Baby of the Year 2020

Meet Clarenville’s Rory Balsom, The Herald’s voted-by-readers choice for Baby of the Year 2020!

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Baby of the Year, Clarenville’s Rory Balsom, is a bundle of energy. Case in point? “He started walking at nine months old and he hasn’t stopped much since,” shares his proud mom Samantha.

A busy boy

Dad Michael beams as his son smiles for the camera for shot after shot. He might be a busy boy, but he certainly is pleasant. “He’s always like that, or almost always,’’ dad adds.

Rory has many fans, evident by the total number of winning votes he received   for this year’s Herald Baby of the Year contest. As the only grandchild on both sides, there little shortage of support for this little doll.

Rory’s maternal grandfather, Elywin Burke, considered himself his grandson’s campaign manager, using social media to drum up voting support from friends and family throughout Newfoundland and beyond. ‘‘Dad is from Buchans and it’s a very tight-knit community, and he wasn’t shy about reaching out to everyone he knew,’’ Samantha laughs.

Hometown pride

‘‘Literally every time I ever make a post about Rory and would tag my dad in it, I’d get 200 plus likes or comments from all of his Facebook friends, usually people from Buchans,’’ she shared.

The town has a huge sense of hometown pride, she adds.

‘‘They were just as excited as we were when Rory was in the running for Baby of the Year. They’re all disappointed thinking he didn’t win because we’ve been keeping it from them as a surprise but I know they’re going to be just as happy and proud as we are as they all had such a huge role in it.’’

A playful child

So, what does Rory like to do? The toddler, born October 24th, 2018, loves his dog Fisher. ‘‘He also loves to play with his friends. He loves playing outside, dancing to music and watching fish tanks.’’

When the family heard Rory had won, they were over the moon, she shares.

‘‘It’s such an honour. Rory had his Santa letter in The Herald last year and we were so excited over that. Now he’s on the cover. We are just thrilled and excited.’’

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