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.

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.