Update: 2023 National Gingerbread House Competition winners announced at Grove Park Inn
ASHEVILLE - The search for the most outstanding, showstopping gingerbread creation has concluded with a North Carolinian team taking home the grand prize at the 31st annual National Gingerbread House Competition.
On Nov. 20, nearly 200 edible entries lined the Grand Ballroom of The Omni Grove Park Inn for the highly competitive event.
Yet only one earned a $7,500 cash award and a prize package that includes a trophy, a two-night stay, two spa days, and breakfast and dinner for two at the resort.
Difficult Dessert Devotees teammates Faith An and Deborah Kinton, a niece and aunt from Fuquay-Varina, won for “Christmas at the Tongkonan,” a structure inspired by the traditional ancestral house, Tongkonan.
“I started somewhere completely different and started researching Christmas traditions in Indonesia and came across this culture from Tana Toraja, and I fell in love with the house and thought it needed to be a gingerbread house,” An said.
An said it was their third time to compete and first time to win.
Last year, they received the Chef Nicholas Lodge Award for Best Use of Color, An said.
This year, their current gingerbread creation won the Chef Nicholas Lodge Award for Most Unique Ingredient for their use of absorbable dental sutures to make tassels used on the figurines.
Mark Seaman, lead judge and culinary applications chef for Barry Callebaut, said the winning piece consisted of many new materials that the judges hadn't seen before.
"There were a lot of different elements that made it so interesting, so unique. All of the organic elements that were included were just phenomenal," Seaman said.
A single, long, fine piece of gingerbread was used as a support for the structure, which Seaman said is not common. Also, turmeric and other foods were used as dyes.
Kinton said An worked on the gingerbread creation every day for two months straight with research and planning preceding construction.
Kinton said they will send a photo of the gingerbread creation to the travel and tourism board in Indonesia.
“We said we were going to go to Indonesia. It was a joke. We can go to Indonesia,” An said when asked what she and her aunt would do with the grand prize money.
An said she plans to enter the gingerbread competition again next year.
“If I ever get over the shock of winning this year,” she said.
The 31st annual National Gingerbread House Awards winners
The gingerbreaders competed in the four age groups, adult (ages 18 and up), teen (ages 13-17), youth (ages 9-12) and child (ages 5-8) to create 100% edible creations made of at least 75% gingerbread.
Chef Nicholas Lodge Awards were presented in the categories Best Use of Sprinkles, Most Unique Ingredient, Longest Standing Competitor, Best Use of Color, Pop Culture Star and Most Innovative Structure.
People's Choice: Best in Show Award
Love at Frost Sight, “Rockin’ at the Diner” – Woodbury, Minnesota.
Top 3 Adult
Grand Prize Winner. Difficult Dessert Devotees, “Christmas at the Tongkonan” – Fuquay-Varina.
Second Place. Pat Ashley Howard, “Moving Day” – Orlando, Florida.
Third Place. Bonnie Hardiman, “Home Delivery” – Hagerstown, Maryland.
Top 3 Teen
First Place. Courtland High School German Program, “Vintage Voyage” – Spotsylvania, Virginia.
Second Place. Toccoa Titans, “Grove’s Miracle Tonic” – Blue Ridge, Georgia.
Third Place. Emma Rhinehart, “An Elegant Christmas” – Columbia, Tennessee.
Top 3 Youth
First Place. Frost Girls, “Fun in the Tub” – Woodbury, Minnesota.
Second Place. Perry Reid, “Holiday Smackdown” – Travelers Rest.
Third Place. The Fiddleheads, “Little Blue Truck’s Christmas” – Clyde.
Top 3 Child
First Place. Grace Webster, “The Night of Magical Memories” – Greenville, South Carolina.
Child Second Place. China Grove Cousins, “Ready, Set, SNOOOOWWWW!!!!” – Mooresville.
Third Place. Paul Frahler, “Bath Santa Takes Off!” – Greenville, South Carolina.
Chef Nicholas Lodge Awards
Best Use of Sprinkles. Chloe Jennings, “Visions of Sugar Plums” – Purlear.
Most Unique Ingredient. With the use of Catgut Dental Sutures and Stevia Leaves, Difficult Dessert Devotees, “Christmas at Tongkonan” – Fuquay-Varina.
Longest Standing Competitor. Merry Spafford, “A Classical Christmas Carol” – Loudon, Tennessee.
Best Use of Color. Love at Frost Sight, “Rockin’ at the Diner” – Woodbury, Minnesota.
Pop Culture Star. Shelby Pechtel, “Groot’s First Christmas” – Troutman.
Most Innovative Structure. Andrea Watson, “Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho" – Simpsonville, South Carolina.
Farthest Traveled Competitor: At 4,234 miles, Beatriz Mejia, “Barrel Organ” – Guatemala.
Choosing a gingerbread winner
This year’s judging panel consisted of Seaman; Cheryl Forberg, James Beard Award-winning chef and dietitian; Geoff Blount, pastry chef and teacher; John Cook, executive pastry chef at The Omni Grove Park Inn; Steven Stellingwerf, pastry chef, author and teacher; Aaron Morgan, executive pastry chef at the Stable Café on the Biltmore Estate; and Ashleigh Shanti, Season 19 “Top Chef” contestant, 2020 James Beard Award finalist and chef/owner of Good Hot Fish restaurant opening downtown.
And a new judge joined this year’s lineup, Yolanda Gampp, celebrity cake artist coined “The Beyonce of Cakes,” cohost of Fox’s “Crime Scene Kitchen,” and she’s a two-time best-selling cookbook author and co-founder of the leading international baking education company, “How To Cake It.”
“It was fabulous, amazing, I was awestruck,” Gampp said. “It’s really difficult to judge a competition like this. I was impressed with so many entries.”
Gingerbread creation and cake making and decorating share similarities, but gingerbread is in a class of its own, according to Gampp.
“Structurally, they don’t compare because gingerbread houses are often open and empty on the inside and a cake cannot be that, but it’s all about decorating techniques," Gampp said. "How many did you use, how did you think outside your box, and what kind of edible materials did you use to create interesting texture? And, of course, for me, it’s always creativity.”
The gingerbread competition expands beyond traditional houses with entries ranging from seasonal settings to intricate figures to comical holiday scenes.
"Every year, we're always like, 'How is it possible that it gets better and better?'" Seaman said. "If I look at my score sheet for the Top 10, the Top 3 are separated by like two points. People are like a half-point here, a half-point there. It's impressive that so many people are getting so much better and a lot of that has to do with the communities that are formed."
The National Gingerbread House Competition has been described as a family reunion with gingerbread artists, also known as gingerbreaders, returning year after year. An award was presented to the Longest Standing Competitor who's participated for 20 years.
Seaman said the gingerbreaders share techniques that help others improve, thereby raising the caliber of entrants each year.
"There were a lot of people who came for the first or second time. I want to encourage them to keep coming," Seaman said. "Don't be discouraged if you weren't in the top 10 or didn't win the top prize. Come anyway. It's what helps you grow your skills. Don't compare your house to somebody else's house. Compare it to what you made last year. ... Did you get better for you?"
Gingerbread days at Omni Grove Park Inn
All gingerbread submissions will be displayed Nov. 27-Jan. 2.
The Gingerbread Display is available for resort guests to view 24/7 and to non-resort guests Monday-Thursday anytime and Sundays after 4 p.m., excluding holidays (Dec. 23-25, 30-31 and Jan. 1).
Tune in to “The 12 Days of Gingerbread” on the Facebook (@omnigroveparkinn) and Instagram (@omnigrovepark) channels where the Top 12 finalists will be featured each day from Dec. 1-12.
View the life-sized gingerbread house modeled after the historic hotel in the Great Hall, and lounge by the iconic fireplaces while enjoying sweet treats, house-made hot chocolate and a specialty craft brew in partnership with Highland Brewing.
Grove Park Inn is offering a Gingerbread Holiday Package from Nov. 22-Dec. 30 that includes deluxe accommodations, a complimentary holiday gingerbread cookie, daily breakfast at farm-to-table artisanal buffet restaurant The Blue Ridge, and overnight valet with garage parking.
The fall and holiday parking program will continue at the property through Jan. 2 with a portion of its parking proceeds to benefit local nonprofit organizations in Buncombe County. Since its inception in 2013, the program is reported to have contributed more than $923,000 to charitable partners. The valet service is $35 and self-parking is $25.
The 31st National Gingerbread House display
Where: The Omni Grove Park Inn, 290 Macon Ave., Asheville
When: Nov. 27-Jan. 2.
The Gingerbread Display is available for resort guests to view 24/7 and to non-resort guests Monday-Thursday anytime and Sundays after 4 p.m., excluding holidays (Dec. 23-25, 30-31 and Jan. 1).
Info: For more, visit www.OmniHotels.com/Gingerbread and follow on social media Facebook @omnigroveparkinn and Instagram @omnigrovepark.
Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: 2023 National Gingerbread House Competition winners selected
