Mars announces winner of million-dollar Halloween contest prize

PHOENIX Mars Snackfood on Thursday announced the grand-prize winner of its Halloween Million Contest as Michelle Willis of Ahwatukee, Ariz.

Willis received an oversized check written out in the amount of $1 million delivered to her by M&Ms characters.

Willis said that she would use part of her winnings for a surgery for her pet Chihuahua, Belle, to have a tumor removed.

“Belle is my best friend, and we were so worried about how we were going to cover the cost of the surgery,” Willis said.

“When we got home from meeting with the vet, there was a FedEx letter saying that I had won the contest,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it was true, so I called my daughters into the room so they could read it, too. The operation was weighing so heavily on my mind that this news was perfect timing.”

Mars’ Halloween Million sweepstakes ran earlier this year online. Entrants 13 years of age and older were invited to sign in at HalloweenMillion.com where they could enter UPC codes from Mars candy packages such as Snickers, M&Ms, Milky Way bars, Skittles and others.

Mars said that the $1 million grand prize money will be paid to Willis as a 20-year annuity.