Nabisco has announced the winner of the #MyOreoCreation contest, adding a new flavor to the roster of Oreos.
After hundreds of thousands of votes, mouth-watering submissions, and a tight competition, Oreo officially has a new flavor, and one lucky winner officially has $500,000 cushioning their pocket. Cherry Cola Oreo, the brainchild of Winnetka, California’s Eden F., beat out Kettle Corn Oreos and Piña Colada Oreo Thins to rise as victor and claim the coveted title of being the newest Oreo flavor.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“We were thrilled to see how many fans tasted all three delicious flavors and voted for their favorite to help us choose our grand prize winner,” Oreo told Delish.
Eden, who submitted the flavor as part of the #MyOreoCreation contest that saw thousands of people voting on social media to choose a winner, drew inspiration from her childhood when she came up with her flavor creation.
“I started to think about sweet sodas and popsicles and fresh fruit. All of those sweet juicy flavors like orange, grape, lime, and cherry,” Eden, whose original submission was orange soda, said. “I was trying to capture flavors that reminded me of happy summers when I was a kid in the late ’70s and ’80s.”
The announcement of the newest Oreo flavor comes after a wave of controversy surrounding the #MyOreoCreation contest. After the three finalists were announced in April, each creator earning a sum of $25,000, a Colorado woman named Lauren Young claimed that she had actually been the one to submit the Chery Cola flavor. Young stated that she had submitted the idea on Twitter but had never been informed that she had won and never received the prize money.
However, while Oreo did acknowledge that Young had also submitted the Oreo flavor, a spokesperson for the company said that the competition, which saw upwards of 700,000 entries, resulted in some flavors being submitted by multiple people, including Cherry Cola.
“As expected, many consumers submitted the same flavor suggestions, including ‘cherry cola,’ but did so in different and creative ways,” a representative told PEOPLE. “Knowing that this would happen, the winning submission was based on more than just identifying the flavor (as this Denver Colorado entrant has done), but also on the creative way in which the entrant presented the flavor along with other details about the flavor creation, as outlined in the official rules.”
While Cherry Cola is currently on shelves, there is no telling how long it will last. With a limited number left stocked, it is possible that the winning flavor could make a permanent comeback if it proves to be popular.
