Did you know that there is a National Gingerbread House Competition in the USA?

 

Well, since festive holiday season is approaching fast, guess it is time for the passionate culinary enthusiasts across North America to organize sweets related competitions.

Such event is the Annual National Gingerbread House Competition, which is now at its 26th edition and gathers talented gingerbread artists coast-to-coast.

The recent edition took place on Monday, Nov. 19, and the artists had the chance to showcase their intricate, tasty creations hosted at The Omni Grove Park Inn.

Photo source: wanderwithwonder.com – THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN: A HISTORIC RETREAT NEAR THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS

It is intriguing to see that the festival gathered 195 entries all wanting to become the best Gingerbread House artist and win their share of more than $25,000 in cash and prizes at the historic Blue Ridge Mountain retreat.

The overall appearance, originality/creativity, difficulty, precision and consistency of theme was evaluated by a panel of highly regarded judges and each entry required to be made of at least 75 percent gingerbread.

The 2018 panel of adjudicators featured world-renowned pastry chefs, artists and media experts, which included the likes of Mark Seaman, Barry Callebaut, Nadine Orenstein and head judge, Nicholas Lodge, author of over one dozen sugar art books and instructional DVDs; celebrity chef and author Carla Hall; and many others.

After the judges have deliberated, the 2018 winning entries in the categories of adult, teen, youth and child include:

Grand Prize Winner, Adult: 
Julie and Michael Andreacola, Indian Trail, NC

Adult Second Place:  
Catherine Beddall, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Adult Third Place: 
Grier Rubeling, Cary, NC

Teen (13- to 17-year-olds) First Place:
Courtland High School German Club, Spotsylvania, VA

Teen Second Place:
Gabriella Arthur, Easley, SC

Teen Third Place:
Chloe Jennings, Purlear, NC

Youth (9- to 12-year-olds) First Place: 
The Salty Sketeboarding Bears on Mars, Asheville, NC

Youth Second Place:
Carly and Katie Owens, Taylorsville, NC

Youth Third Place:   
S’morals, Greenville, SC

Child (5- to 8-year-olds) First Place:  
Cabarrus Charter Kids, China Grove, NC

Child Second Place: 
David and Trenton Hodges, Asheville, NC

Child Third Place: 
Addison Bennett, Rutherfordton, NC

In the spirit of the holidays, The Omni Grove Park Inn will be displaying all gingerbread designs from Sunday, Nov. 25 through Thursday, Jan. 4, 2019 to visitors on a complimentary basis.

We wouldn’t mind have some tasting samples in the office to enjoy with our colleagues, hopefully the organizers will read about our article and send some our way.

Zoltán is a self-taught publisher and events organizer who has developed several brands and services that have increased the notoriety of his company within multi-billion dollar industries. In 2018, he has become a TEDx speaker and talked about reputation management in the digital era. As Co-Founder of HIPTHER Agency, Zoltan has helped develop highly respected online news portals, virtual and in-person conferences that cater to multiple industries on 5 continents. Among the developed brands and services you can find online news portals that cover several tech industries, gaming, blockchain, fintech, artificial intelligence, and more. In parallel, the company has built a portfolio of annually organized boutique-style conferences in Europe and North America. All the events organized by his company focus on bringing a wealth of information about the latest innovation in several industries such as Entertainment, Technology, Gaming and Gambling, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, Quantum Technology, Legal Cannabis, Health and Lifestyle, VR/AR, eSports and many more. Zoltan enjoys writing articles on all portals owned by the HIPTHER Agency, talking at conferences, hosting the weekly HIPTHER Talks Podcast, and loves spending time with his family. Zoltan is a duathlete who enjoys training for different international competitions which include running and cycling.