Bashas Names Winners for 10th Annual Donut Flavor Craze Contest
June 9, 2025 | 5 min to read
The 10th-annual Donut Flavor Craze contest at Bashas' has crowned its champions just in time for National Donut Day. A 13-year-old from Paradise Valley, Miele K., won the youth category with her Desert Campfire Smore donut, while Elizabeth Bouck from Gilbert took the adult title for her Donoli donut. Both flavors will be available starting June 6, and Bashas' will donate 10% of donut sales that day to The Salvation Army.
Winning donuts will be available in Bashas’ bakeries across the state for a limited time starting this Friday, June 6 (National Donut Day)
ARIZONA – The donuts have been tasted, the ballots have been counted, and the results are now in for Bashas’ 10th-annual Donut Flavor Craze contest.
Thanks to the culinary creativity of a Paradise Valley teenager and a Gilbert grown-up, two new donut flavors will soon be available in Bashas’ bakery cases across the state – just in time for National Donut Day this Friday, June 6.
Miele K., a 13-year-old from Paradise Valley, won first place in the youth category for her Desert Campfire Smore donut, which is a Long John donut with chocolate icing, drizzled with marshmallow crème and topped with graham cracker crumbs and mini marshmallows.
Elizabeth Bouck, a grown-up from Gilbert, submitted the winning donut in the adult category. Her Donoli donut is a frosted vanilla donut filled with cinnamon cream cheese icing, sprinkled with crushed cannoli chips and chocolate chips and then drizzled with chocolate icing.
If Bouck’s name sounds familiar, it’s for good reason: she took first place in last year’s youth category.
As part of its annual competition, Bashas’ invited kids and grown-ups across the state to dream up the best donut flavors for the grocer’s bakery cases. People could submit their ideas for a donut from any of the themes from the previous nine years. They were: Pop Culture, Wacky Donut Flavors, Sweet & Savory, Arizona Themed, Guilty Pleasure, Carnival Flavors, Global Flavors and Retro vs. Future.
A panel of local celebrity judges helped Bashas’ to select the winning donut flavors.
The two winning donuts will be available for purchase in Bashas’ bakery cases across the state starting this Friday, June 6. Also on National Donut Day, Bashas’ will donate 10% of its donut sales on Friday, June 6, 2025, to The Salvation Army, which established National Donut Day in June 1938 to honor volunteers who served the sweet treats to soldiers on the frontlines. Additionally, you’ll receive 18 donuts when you purchase two Don Francisco’s coffee pods or bags.
In addition to being named Bashas’ Official Donut Ambassadors for 2025, Miele and Elizabeth will each receive one dozen donuts every month for a year from Bashas’ bakery, and $500 worth of prizes, including a Bashas’ gift card.
The youth category runner-up is 13-year-old Audrey S. from Tucson; she will receive a $50 Bashas’ gift card for her A Latte Sugar donut, a buttercream filled donut topped with chocolate-coffee frosting drizzled with caramel and a ganache of espresso beans.
The adult category runner-up is Sheryl Keeme from Tempe; she will receive a $50 Bashas’ gift card for her The Salty White Turtle submission. It is a vanilla donut dipped in white ganache, drizzled with caramel and topped with broken pecans and sea salt.
The three honorable mentions in the youth category went to 9-year-old Creedence M. from Buckeye for her Island Kiss Donut; 13-year-old Charlee Y. from Scottsdale for The “Wicked” I Donut of Bashas’ and 16-year-old Braxton B. from Queen Creek for the Chocolate Covered Pretzel donut. The three honorable mentions in the adult category are Shaunna Serfin fromGlendale for the Peach Cobbler Crunch submission, Janet Gunderson from Flagstaff for her Cookies and Milk for Santa donut, and Maya Gordon from Chandler for her Coco Mocha Monkey Banana donut. All six will each receive a $20 Bashas’ gift card.
About National Donut Day
National Donut Day was originally established to honor The Salvation Army’s service to soldiers during World War I. Around 250 volunteers traveled overseas to provide emotional and spiritual support, sweet treats, clothes, and supplies to troops. These women, known as “Donut Lassies,” made and hand-delivered donuts to the front lines and are often credited with popularizing the donut in the United States when the troops returned home from war.
About Bashas’ Family of Stores
Bashas’ Family of Stores is a division of The Raley’s Companies. The grocer operates in Arizona, New Mexico, and four Tribal Nations under five well-known brands including Bashas’, Food City, AJ’s Fine Foods, Eddie’s Country Store, and Bashas’ Diné supermarkets. Founded in 1932, the grocer has a rich history of serving families with quality products and great customer service. With more than 100 supermarkets in Arizona, Bashas’ is one of the largest employers in the state and one of the Best Places to Work. Bashas’ has given back more than $100 million to the communities it serves. For more information, visit bashas.com.
About The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army ranks No. 6 on Forbes’ latest list of America’s Top 100 Charities and has helped more than 360,000 Arizonans last year through a range of social services. By providing food for the hungry; shelter; and clothing for people experiencing homelessness, along with rent and utilities assistance, disaster relief, respite from extreme weather conditions, senior activity and outreach, adult rehabilitation, opportunities for under-resourced children, holiday assistance, and emotional and spiritual support, The Salvation Army is doing the most good at more than 40 units across the state. Around 83 cents of every dollar donated to The Salvation Army nationally go directly to fund programs to help people who need it most. For more information about The Salvation Army, visit SalvationArmySouthwest.org and follow SalvationArmySW on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. #DoingTheMostGood #SalArmyLoveBeyond.