Rotten Sneaker Contest®





In light of the healthcare crisis the country is facing due to COVID-19, the 2020 National Odor Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest was cancelled on 3/16/2020. We hope to return next year – in the meantime, thank you for your continued support of the Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest.

The Rotten Sneaker Contest began in 1974 as a promotion created by a Montpelier Vermont sporting goods owner who wanted to advertise a new line of athletic shoes. At the Montpelier Department of Recreation, the owner discovered a perfect pair of superbly rotten sneakers that would look great in the store ad. The recreation director seized the moment and created a new contest…the search for the worst rotten sneakers! The makers of Odor-Eaters® products caught a “whiff” of this grand event, and became the official sponsor in 1988.





The Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest is open to all children ages 5-15. Each year, prior to the national competition, a series of local contests are held around the country. The winner of each of the local contests travels to New York city to compete for the national Rotten Sneaker title. Shoes are judged on 1) odor, 2) condition, and 3) the child’s verbal account of why and how his/her sneakers are the stinkiest. Check out this year’s winner below.





Contests scheduled for the year



Contest rules









SENNECA SLOCOMBE FROM EAGLE RIVER, ALASKA

Wins The 2019 National Odor-Eaters® Rotten Sneaker Contest®





NEW YORK, NY (March 26, 2019) — This year seven participants from across the country worked hard to stink up their shoes for a chance to win the national title at the Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest held at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Times Square. The regional winners admitted to wearing no socks, stepping in slop of all sources, and even claimed their dogs love to chew on their stinky shoes. But only one pair of sneakers out-stunk them all and they belonged to 15-year old, Senneca Slocombe, from Eagle River, Alaska.





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