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Calling All Proud Parents: Gap Takes Its Casting Call Search to the Minneapolis Area to Find the New Faces of babyGap and GapKids

Children, 10-years-old and younger, will have the opportunity to participate in a free photo shoot with a professional photographer on a first-come, first-serve basis. After their child's moment in the spotlight, each parent will receive a card with directions to retrieve his or her child's photo online and can then submit their favorite photo to the Gap Casting Call contest Website at gap.com/castingcall.

"Casting Call is an event that we really look forward to every year -- it's an opportunity for us to meet and interact with our customers and their children in a unique and exciting way," said Pam Wallack, president of babyGap, GapKids and GapMaternity. "This is the first time we're doing the photo-op events in select stores. By adding in these events to the Casting Call experience, we hope to give even more children a chance to participate in the contest by helping them with the first step -- taking a great photo that really expresses who they are!"

More than 40 photo-op events are being held at GapKids and babyGap stores across the nation. A complete list of photo-op events is available online at gap.com/castingcall.

    Event Location and Time:

    MALL OF AMERICA
    Location:    GapKids
                 60 E. Broadway
                 Bloomington, MN 55425
    Date:        Friday, Oct. 3 and Saturday, Oct. 4
    Time:        Casting Call Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

About Gap Casting Call

From Sept. 15 to Oct. 22, parents across the country are encouraged to visit gap.com/castingcall where they can upload their favorite photo of their babies (ages 4 and under) and kids (ages 5-10) for a chance to be featured in an upcoming babyGap or GapKids campaign. During the contest entry period, Gap and Snapfish are offering special offers for all valid entries so no one will walk away empty handed! Parents can also check out leading pregnancy and parenting web site, LilSugar (http://www.lilsugar.com/gap) for special Gap Casting Call features, as well as tips, trends, product reviews and insider secrets to make mom's life easier.

Once all contest entries are received, judges will narrow down the field to twenty finalists -- 10 babies (5 girls and 5 boys) for babyGap and 10 kids (5 girls and 5 boys) for GapKids. These twenty finalists will be flown toSan Francisco to participate in a Gap photo shoot and will receive prize packages, including a $300 gift card from babyGap / GapKids and $250 in photo gifts from Snapfish.

On Dec. 8, the twenty finalists will be announced and voting begins. It will be up to America to decide who will be featured in a babyGap and GapKids 2009 campaign. Voting will be conducted from Dec. 8 to Dec. 21 at gap.com/castingcall. The winners will be announced in mid-January.

Four children will be selected as winners of the Gap Casting Call -- one baby girl and one baby boy for babyGap and one girl and one boy for GapKids. The winners will be featured in the windows of babyGap and GapKids stores from coast-to-coast and will receive other incredible prizes including a year's supply of clothing from babyGap or GapKids and $450 worth of photo gifts from Snapfish.

    For official rules, please visit http://www.gap.com/castingcall.

     Media Contacts:
     Katie O'Kane                                  Kim Terry
     SS+K for Gap                                  Gap Marketing & PR
     kokane@ssk.com                                kimberly_terry@gap.com
     212.419.3374                                  415.427.4844

SOURCE Gap