On Monday, November 20, The Omni Grove Park Inn held its highly-anticipated Annual National Gingerbread House Competition, which included 200 entries from over 22 states and Guatemala. Contestants spanning across adult, teen, youth and children categories competed for a chance to win a piece of more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.

This year’s Grand Prize winners, the Difficult Dessert Devotees, are a niece and aunt baking duo from North Carolina. It was their third year competing and first time winning the competition.

The judge panel evaluated each creation based on overall appearance, originality, creativity, difficulty, precision and consistency of theme, with each entry required to be 75 percent gingerbread and 100 percent edible. This year, the competition welcomed a new judge, celebrity cake artist Yolanda Gampp. Returning judges also included lead judge Mark Seaman, culinary applications chef for Barry Callebaut; 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, chef/owner of Good Hot Fish & 2020 James Beard finalist.

This year’s competition brought back six Chef Nicholas Lodge Awards, introduced last year and renamed in loving memory of former lead judge Chef Nicholas Lodge. Inspired from past entries and the creative elements that the competitors have introduced over the years, the awards included “Best Use of Color,” “Best Use of Sprinkles,” “Most Unique Ingredient,” “Pop Culture Star,” “Most Innovative Structure” and “Longest Standing Competitor.” Additionally, back by popular demand, registered competitors had the opportunity to vote on their favorite design to determine the winner of the “People’s Choice: Best in Show Award.”

The 2023 top three winning entries in the Adult, Teen, Youth and Child categories include:

  • Grand Prize Winner, Adult: Difficult Dessert Devotees, “Christmas at the Tongkonan” – Fuquay Varina, NC
  • Adult Second Place: Pat Ashley Howard, “Moving Day"” – Orlando, FL
  • Adult Third Place: Bonnie Hardiman, “Home Delivery” – Hagerstown, MD
  • Teen (ages 13-17) First Place: Courtland High School German Program, “Vintage Voyage” – Spotsylvania, VA
  • Teen Second Place: Toccoa Titans, “Grove’s Miracle Tonic” – Blue Ridge, GA
  • Teen Third Place: Emma Rhinehart, “An Elegant Christmas” – Columbia, TN
  • Youth (ages 9-12) First Place: Frost Girls, “Fun in the Tub” – Woodbury, MN
  • Youth Second Place: Perry Reid, “Holiday Smackdown” – Travelers Rest, SC
  • Youth Third Place: The Fiddleheads, “Little Blue Truck’s Christmas” – Clyde, NC
  • Child (ages 5-8) First Place: Grace Webster, “The Night of Magical Memories” – Greenville, SC
  • Child Second Place: China Grove Cousins, “Ready, Set, SNOOOOWWWW!!!!” – Mooresville, NC
  • Child Third Place: Paul Frahler, “Bath Santa Takes Off!” – Greenville, SC

The second-ever People’s Choice: Best in Show Award was given to Love at Frost Sight, “Rockin’ at the Diner” from Woodbury, Minnesota.

The 2023 winners across the six Chef Nicholas Lodge Awards include:

  • Best Use of Color: Love at Frost Sight, “Rockin’ at the Diner” – Woodbury, MN
  • Best Use of Sprinkles: Chloe Jennings, “Visions of Sugar Plums” – Purlear, NC
  • Most Unique Ingredient: with use of Catgut Dental Sutures and Stevia Leaves, Difficult Dessert Devotees, “Christmas at Tongkonan” – Fuquay Varina, NC
  • Most Innovative Structure: Andrea Watson, “Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho” – Simpsonville, SC
  • Pop Culture Star: Shelby Pechtel, “Groot’s First Christmas” – Troutman, NC
  • Longest Standing Competitor: Merry Spafford, “A Classical Christmas Carol” – Loudon, TN

The furthest traveled competitor was Beatriz Mejia, who traveled 4,234 miles from Guatemala to participate in this year’s competition.

The Omni Grove Park Inn will display all gingerbread creations in-person throughout the resort from Monday, November 27, 2023 through Tuesday, January 2, 2024. All Fridays and Saturdays are reserved for registered resort guests and those that have confirmed dining reservations. Guests not staying at the resort are invited to view the display anytime Monday-Thursday and after 4 pm on Sundays, based on parking availability and excluding holidays and December 23-25, 30-31 and January 1.