Gingerbread Everywhere
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
Each year I have the honor and pleasure of participating in the judging panel of the National Gingerbread Competition in Asheville, NC. And each year the entries astound me as to their ingenuity and new-found creativity. This year was no different.
Over 200 contestants create displays in categories based on age: kids, teen, youth, and adult. This year, one of the youth entries had the adults running scared. Basing her theme on the 2009 Disney-Pixar movie “Up”, Skyla Delerme created a playful representation of the balloon-laden house…complete with hand-modeled figures of the movie’s main characters Carl, Russell, Dug, and Kevin. Skyla’s attention to detail, use of color, and modeling techniques were unsurpassed in this category, grabbing her first place honors in the Teen category.
Other houses of special note included the show’s Grand Prize winnning Matryoshka doll themed display created by Heather Lewis of Austell, GA. The display included a meticulously decorated set of 6 nesting dolls designed to depict Santa Claus, an Elf, a reindeer, a snowman, a gingerbread man, and a traditional Russian Matryoshka girl. Every detail of Heather’s entire display was artfully executed, using a variety of decorating techniques in unique ways. Most impressive was Heather’s ability to bake gingerbread in a curved shape with such neat and even seams. The edible glaze used to finish the dolls gave the entire display a look that took it beyond gingerbread and into toy-making.
Three other displays that caught my eye were Noah’s Ark, created by MaryJo Dowling of Westford, MA and Barb Evans of Edelstein, Illinois and a house designed with a “rusted” roof created by a first-time competitor who drove all the way from Oklahoma, and a Rocking Horse created by Angel Adkins of Kodak, TN. The hand-modeled figures used to decorate the Ark were full of personality; the rusted element of the roof something I’d never seen done before; and the wood finish of the rocking horse so realistic that I had to touch it to believe it was gingerbread!
- Created by MaryJo Dowling and Barb Evans
- Hand-modeled animals
- Grand Prize Entry 2010
- Close up of elf
- Gingerbread Rocking Horse
- Up Gingerbread House
- Back view of Up house
- Hand-modeled figures
- “Rusted” Gingerbread Roof created by Michael Billella
The National Gingerbread Competition is held annually in November at the beautiful Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa.
Entries are judged on overall appearance, originality/creativity, difficulty, precision and consistency of theme.
Registration information is available online. For additional photos from this year’s competition visit the National Gingerbread Competition page on Facebook.
















