Veronica Rodriguez Crowned America’s Most Gifted Wrapper

“Veronica Rodriguez, a gift-wrapping guru from Richmond, Calif., was crowned “America’s Most Gifted Wrapper” for 2006 in a national gift-wrapping contest sponsored by the maker of Scotch brand tape.

Amid throngs of holiday revelers at Rockefeller Center today, Rodriguez out wrapped seven other gift-wrapping experts in the tenth annual Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper Contest to earn the ultimate holiday prize: $10,000. With bows, ribbons and Scotch tape in hand, Rodriguez and her worthy competitors wrapped some of today’s trickiest kids toys – a soccer ball (out of the box, of course!), a ride-on pedal plane, even a life-size stuffed pony – with breathtaking flair, speed and style.

Rodriguez offers this advice to those who are getting ready to wrap their holiday presents: “My top three tips are: be creative, stay focused and make really big bows.”

The first runner-up, Vickie Cook from Franklinville, N.C., received a $2,500 cash prize. The other six contestants received smaller cash prizes as well. Contestants were judged on three criteria: appearance, technique and speed.

The judging panel consisted of experts in the art of gift-wrapping, Christine Fritsch, author of Gifted Wrapping and the 2002 Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper; Mark Ski, former producer for Martha Stewart Living and Kristine Solomon, editor at Spark Publishing, a division of Barnes & Noble. “

Stumble it! | |