For the first time, when people hear the classic expression on TV, ‘The Milkybars are on me!' the person saying it will be a girl.

The 2010 New Zealand Milkybar kid is for the first time anywhere in the world a girl – Hinetaapora Short.

Nestle have selected eight year old Rotorua girl Hinetaapora Short to wear the cowboy hat and boots of the character which dates back to 1967.

This is a world first for the character and Nestle sees it as fitting for it to be a New Zealand girl.

'Hinetaapora was a hit with the judges and New Zealand public alike,” says Milkybar spokesman Jeremy Boucher.

'We opened up this search to all New Zealanders, and it is exciting to have found a winner who not only has the special qualities to come through this audition process but who also embodies New Zealand in the 21st century.”
Hinetaapora attends Maori school Te Kura O Tekoutu and is bilingual – Maori is her first language.

Her favourite subjects at school are Spanish and singing, and when she grows up she'd like to be famous, or a model.
The contest to become the Milkybar kid began on August 9 and involved filmed and public auditions of some 1500 children entered from around New Zealand.