One of Savannah, Mo.’s own is one of the country’s most eligible bachelors, at least according to Cosmopolitan magazine.

Kyle Hummer, a 21-year-old student at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, is one of the 52 contestants for the magazine’s annual “Bachelor of the Year.”

The winner will be announced Tuesday, when the November issue of the magazine hits newsstands. Readers can vote online for their favorite bachelor at www.cosmopolitan.com/bachelors. Voting closes at midnight on Sunday.

Mr. Hummer said he was “totally shocked” to receive the phone call in May from Cosmo telling him he was one of the contestants. He didn’t realize he had been nominated by his sister, Lindsay Runnenbaum, and brother-in-law, Nick, who was the Kansas representative in the 2005 “Bachelor of the Year” contest.

“I never pictured myself being in that, being named in that category,” he said, “(but) it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I can’t turn that down.”

Mr. Hummer’s mom, Tara Hummer, said the first thing she thought about when she heard the news was his hair: Mr. Hummer had cut off his long hair just days before the call from Cosmo came, and one of the first things they told him was not to change his appearance from the pictures that had been submitted.

“My first reaction was that he had to call them back and tell them that his hair was shorter,” she said. “I said that might make a difference.”

It didn’t, and Mr. Hummer was flown out to New York in June for a photo shoot in the Hamptons for the November issue. While there, the guys were filmed for “Entertainment Tonight,” “Access Hollywood” and “E News Daily.”

The hardest part, Mr. Hummer said, was keeping all of this a secret until this week, when online voting began.

“I had told my immediate family and my very close friends, probably just a handful of people until this week,” he said. “I found out in May, I had to go all summer without telling anybody.”

The winner of the contest — and a $10,000 prize — will be announced at a launch party for the November issue on Tuesday evening. All of the contestants will appear on “The Today Show,” and possibly other television shows, that day.

Mr. Hummer said that even though “it’s been one of those things that’s always in the back of my head,” he’s not too nervous about being the overall winner. He’s just grateful for the experience, the friendships he’s made and the opportunities it’s given him. He’s planning on pursuing modeling part time in Kansas City.

His mom said she wondered if the contest might lead him to find someone special, like the winner of last year’s contest. He met his girlfriend after she contacted him through the e-mail address provided by Cosmo.

“I think he’d be quite a catch for some lucky girl,” she said.