Union City resident Allison Trujillo Strong, 11, will never forget the Spanish lyrics to the Oscar Mayer hotdog jingle.
Strong was selected recently from more than 2,000 entries and 10 finalists as the winner of Oscar Mayer’s second Concurso Cantando Hasta La Fema ("Sing for the Fame") contest, in which she sang the jingle. Her victory has netted her the opportunity to appear in a national Oscar Mayer commercial and $20,000 toward her college fund.
"I had a lot of confidence in myself, but I didn’t think I could win," said Strong. "I had been waiting, looking at the mail everyday. When I saw my name on the Federal Express envelope, I ripped it open. Then my mom and I started jumping and screaming at the top of our lungs until we couldn’t scream anymore."
Oscar Mayer received entries for the contest from June 19 through Sept. 3. The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile traveled to local supermarkets and community-based organizations in San Antonio, Texas, Los Angeles and the New York Area.
Strong, a sixth grade student at Woodrow Wilson School, an arts-integrated school within the Union City school district, sang the Oscar Mayer jingle in Spanish in June outside the ShopRite supermarket located in the Columbia Park shopping center in North Bergen.
"There weren’t really many people," remembered Strong. "But when I found out that there were so many people across the country I was like ‘Wow.’ I must be really good."
To enter the contest, children ages four through 10 attended one of the events at their local supermarkets or mailed a videotape of themselves singing the jingle.
The Spanish wiener jingle starts out, "Cuando quiero algo bueno y sabroso, un hot dog Oscar Mayer pido yo" (When I want something good and tasty, I ask for an Oscar Mayer hot dog.")
Recent discovery
Although Strong used to sing in her living room while her cousin used a big flashlight as a spotlight for her, her mother, Patricia Trujillo, did not realize that she had talent until other people began to recognize it.
Strong began taking drama classes in Englewood two years ago. After one of the performances in the school, Trujillo said that many other parents began asking where Strong was training for singing and that they wanted to bring their children to the same vocal coach.
"Allison wasn’t being trained at all," said Trujillo. "That is when I thought, ‘You know what, she’s got talent.’ I have to do something."
Strong’s first competition was in the Hispanic Youth Showcase last summer, and she won it. She then auditioned for the Metropolitan Children’s Opera, of which she is now a member.
"This was all self-affirming that she had talent," said Trujillo.
I wanna be a hotdogger
Two of the official Oscar Mayer "Hotdoggers," Rosa Valera and Eduardo Nunez, drove in the company’s hot dog-shaped car, the Wienermobile, and presented Strong with a $20,000 check at Woodrow Wilson School on Nov. 13.
The "Hotdoggers" had just completed their journey across the country to audition children for the contest.
Hotdoggers are college graduates recruited by Oscar Mayer to take part in an internship program with the company. When their internship is completed, they attend "Hot Dog High" where they learn how to drive the Weinermobile, how to work with the media and about the company.
"Hundreds try out, but only 18 of us cut the mustard, as we like to say," said Valera. "It’s a fun job. We really relish the opportunity to drive the Weinermobile."