Sundae’s Child : Young Ben & Jerry’s Contest Winner Will Be Living Large

First prize was the job as CEO of the hugely successful Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. ice cream company.

Second prize was free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for life.

Luckily, Taylor James Caldwell won second. He is only 3 years old and some of his marketing ideas are questionable.

“Dinosaur flavor!” Taylor exclaimed, showing the gap in his front teeth when asked what flavors he would like Ben & Jerry’s to sell.

And how do you make “Dinosaur flavor”?

“Gummi bears and chocolate!” Taylor answered.

The first prize in the real-life competition for a CEO to replace Ben Cohen went to financial executive Robert Holland Jr., who was selected by an executive search firm.

But the public race for second brought 22,000 entries from ice cream lovers across the nation who sent in their essays on the topic “Yo! I want to be CEO!” There were three winners for that all-the-ice-cream-you-could- ever-want second prize, and amazingly, two were local.

Not only did young Taylor of Santa Clarita win (with an essay ghostwritten by his mom and dad), but also Mark Hyman, a TV reporter from Burbank.

Hyman, who submitted his entry on video, was traveling on Thursday and could not be reached. Contest officials didn’t think he knew yet that he was among the winners.

Taylor seemed more interested in playing inside his blue plastic tunnel in the back yard than commenting on his win. His mother recognized this could set him on the path to a bulging waistline, but she did not seem too concerned.

“What’s an extra 10 pounds when it comes to a lifetime supply of ice cream?” said Taylor’s slender mother, Dawn. “We can handle it.”

Taylor, whose favorite real-life flavor is chocolate-chip cookie dough, submitted a photo of himself beside a cow on the reverse side of a note--written in red, blue and green crayon--pleading for Ben to rescue him and his family from the yuppie urban life.

“Help! I’m stuck with ‘Mr. and Mrs. fast track in California’ ” the essay begins. “Mom is a Nestle marketing director and Dad is a Baxter Healthcare executive. They need new careers and I need a real backyard.”

The Caldwells submitted the essay this summer after Taylor’s Aunt Amy, who lives in Vermont, told them about the contest.

“We were kind of going to be his advisers until he was old enough to assume the responsibilities,” Dawn said, explaining the couple’s foray into ghostwriting.

Taylor’s essay was selected by a group of 20 Ben & Jerry’s employees from 200 finalists, said Brent Campbell, a company spokesman. Taylor’s entry got a near-instantaneous thumbs up.

“In reading that entry,” Campbell said, “a moment was created.”

Hyman, who appeared on the tabloid television show “The Crusaders,” showed his five-minute video entry last fall on the program. (“The Crusaders” has since gone off the air.) Part of the video showed him walking through a Ben & Jerry’s plant in Vermont, trying to drum up support.

“I will double your salary if you just give me your support,” he told employees. “Employee of the month gets a flavor named after them.”

“Sounds good to me,” a female worker replied.

His credentials were less impressive to Jerry Greenfield, who oversees Ben & Jerry’s social and charitable programs.

“Have you had any experience running a company?” Greenfield asked during the on-air segment.

“No. I’m taking a little correspondence course for the CEO job,” Hyman replied. “I’m a pretty quick learner.”

These second-place winners will receive 150 coupons a year good for free pints of Ben & Jerry’s plus a card that can be used at the company’s ice cream parlors. That’s good news to the Caldwell household because of worries about where they would put all that ice cream.

“I thought some big truck was going to pull up,” said Martha Hernandez, the family’s live-in baby-sitter.

The family freezer was devoid of ice cream Thursday--the three cartons that were there on Wednesday, when they got the good news, were already gone.

This would be disappointing to those who know the Caldwells.

“Of course, a lot of people started calling us,” Dawn said, “wondering if family and friends were included.

“Immediate family is, but I’m not sure what immediate family is .”

Just be prepared, Ms. Caldwell, for a lot of people to start calling you Mom.