Originally filed Wednesday, July 11, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
This year's annual cutest baby contest on "Live With Kelly and Ryan" features an adorable Smyrna eight-month-old infant named Malia Alemi-Hopkins in the top five.
The producers culled tens of thousands of submissions down to a top 100. TV viewers narrowed that to a top ten. The producers picked the top five from those and Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest announced their names Tuesday morning.
Andrea Hopkins, Malia's mom, said her aunt told her about the contest so she sent Malia's photo in as a lark. And lo and behold, here she is. "People are always stopping to tell us what a pretty baby she is," Andrea said. "And she has the greatest disposition. She's so happy, laughing at everybody all the time."
Andrea works in the finance department at the Atlanta mayor’s office and plans to be there to watch the final results Friday at about 9:45 a.m. “If we win, I may have to go home early,” she said.
Now it’s up to America to vote for the winner. The window is open through Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST.
Check out the other four baby finalists here along with Malia and vote for your favorite.
All the competitors are two years or younger.
The winning family will receive a vacation at the fancy Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort in Fiji in the South Pacific.
Andrea, if Malia wins, plans to take her aunt and her mom along with Malia to Fiji.
“Live with Kelly and Ryan” airs locally on WSB-TV at 9 a.m.
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