• May 26, 2010

On June 4, National Donut Day, each customer who buys a beverage at any Dunkin' Donuts nationwide will be offered a free donut (offer limited to one per customer).

In addition, Dunkin' will mark the day by announcing the winner of its second annual "Create Dunkin's Next Donut" contest.

A dozen finalists (chosen from among nearly 90,000 online entrants) recently participated in a bake-off competition at Dunkin' Donuts University (in Braintree, Mass.). The winner chosen from among these finalists will receive a $12,000 grand prize, and his/her winning donut creation will be sold in participating Dunkin' locations around the country.

National Donut Day, held the first Friday of June each year, was founded by the Chicago Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers in World War I, according to Dunkin'.

A recent, regional Dunkin' promotion that offered a free iced coffee generated criticism from some Dunkin' fans on Facebook and Twitter because some misunderstood it to be national in scope and were upset about the freebie's unavailability in their regions.

However, like most Dunkin' promotions, the current free donut-with-beverage purchase is national, confirms Dunkin' public relations manager McCall Gosselin, meaning that confusion should not be an issue.