GREEN COVE SPRINGS — Is Callahan Mears America's Baby of the Year? As the results are soon to be revealed, her mother Regan Swift said she is hopeful that her daughter might just take the grand title.

Since 2024, Colossal Management has held an annual competition to raise funds to benefit nonprofits like Baby2Baby. And for four weeks, Swift's daughter, Callahan, has been climbing the ranks in the nationwide competition.

Currently in first place, she stands a good chance at victory. Winning the competition awards the family a prize of $25,000.

“She is just the most adamant and high-energy child. She is always pushing herself to be better every single day. She wants to learn,” Swift said.

At five months, Callahan was already crawling, which is earlier than most children. Now at almost a year old, her words are rapidly coming in.

“Immediately, she’s just drawn to books. Her words are just coming in so quickly,” Swift said.

 Education is very important to Swift and Callahan. And Swift emphasized the importance of starting early.

“If we did win, our plan is to put the majority of it into her education fund and a traditional IRA. What we also want to do with her youth is take advantage of the time we have together through applicative learning. We definitely want to set aside a small portion for learning experiences that might happen quickly,” Swift said.

In their household, screens are not a part of early education. Instead, it looks like going outside and finding sticks and counting flowers or playing with the chickens in their backyard and their beloved 35-year-old tortoise.

“As much as we can, the majority of her life is going to be focused on her learning and growth, whether she knows it or not,” Swift said.

As Callahan has grown up, she has become increasingly curious. One of her favorite activities is to be asked about inanimate objects around the house and identify new items. This curiosity also expands into Callahan’s love for nature.

“She’s picking up sticks – it’s so crazy what is fascinating to them. She’s very big into nature,” Swift said.

The $25,000 prize from the Baby of the Year competition would greatly help Callahan continue to learn and explore the world, Swift said. By sharing and posting Callahan’s name and story on social media and donating to charity through the link on babyoftheyear.org, you can provide Callahan with so many more opportunities to do what she loves.

“She’s very strong-minded. I’m so proud of it as a mother. You have to be able to speak up and speak your mind as a woman,” Swift said.

By early November, results will be in to determine if Callahan is the ultimate Baby of the Year.