California 7-Year-Old Earns a Dream Trip as Panini Super Bowl LI Kid Reporter

In the days shortly after the early January deadline had passed to enter Panini America’s annual Panini Super Bowl Kid Reporter Contest, 7-year-old Joseph Perez incessantly asked his parents, David and Jessica, if they had heard anything about winners. They hadn’t. And so as each day passed, Joseph become more crestfallen, resigned to the fact that one of the many entries he submitted through the Panini Kid Reporter website from football cards he’d received as Christmas gifts wasn’t the lucky one.
So you can imagine Joseph’s surprise when his mom pulled him out of class from Cornerstone Christian School in Wildomar, Calif., late last week to take a phone call that the second-grader never expected — and that he’ll never forget.


From crestfallen to disbelief to euphoria . . . just like that. Joseph is going to Super Bowl LI as the grand prize winner in Panini America’s season-long Super Bowl Kid Reporter contest. With a huge assist from Dilfer himself, Joseph will cover Super Bowl LI Opening Night, interviewing players from the AFC and NFC Champions; and he will be treated to a week that he and his family will never forget.
Joseph, a huge Dallas Cowboys fans who’s been collecting for just more than a year, gets most of his cards from Walmart. His favorite Panini America trading card? Troy Aikman. The player he’s most looking forward to interviewing next week? Tom Brady. In fact, he’s already got his go-to question picked out: “Many people think you’re their hero, but who’s your hero?”

“The Panini Super Bowl Kid Reporter promotion has become one of the most important marketing initiatives we do, not just because it impacts so many of our products and provides season-long incentive, but because it helps connect kids to trading cards and epitomizes what Panini America trading cards are all about: Bringing fans as close as possible to their on-field heroes,” said Jason Howarth, Panini America Vice President of Marketing. “This is the second year that we’ve had the top 10 finalists submit a video on why they wanted to be the Panini Super Bowl Kid Reporter. Joseph’s video was pretty incredible and wowed all of the judges, including Trent Dilfer.”

You can check out Joseph’s must-see finalist video here.

Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for continued coverage of Joseph’s trip to Super Bowl LI.