Grove Park lnn's National Gingerbread House Competiton – WSOC TV

ASHEVILLE, N.C.,None — The National Gingerbread House Competition is an annual holiday tradition at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville, North Carolina.

The National Gingerbread House Competition attracts competitors from around the country each year who create confectionary and architectural wonders.

2010 marks the 18th year for the popular holiday contest.

This event has gained national recognition since The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa held the first competition back in 1993. The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa now receives hundreds of entries from across the country and it has blossomed into a true holiday tradition.

SLIDESHOW: National Gingerbread House Competition Winners

The National Gingerbread House Competition awards more than $12,000 in cash and prizes.

The grand prize winner receives a $3,000 cash prize, plus a two night Club Floor stay at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa, complete with dinner for two and breakfast daily at the historic hotel. All contestants will receive a personalized certificate.

Hundreds of entries from 20 states were scrutinized by a panel of 12 elite judges this year, with winners in four categories emerging in the 18th Annual National Gingerbread House Competition™.

"This was one of the most exciting and competitive National Gingerbread House Competitions™ to ever take place at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. The judges truly had a difficult time and these winners deserve gingerbread glory for the beauty and creativity they put into their works of holiday culinary art," said Ronald E. Morin, Executive Director of Operations at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. "We had contestants from as far away as Texas, Kansas, Wisconsin and New York enter the event this year. And since the gingerbread houses have to be transported and dropped off at the Grove Park Inn, you know we had some very serious competitors."

The gingerbread creativity featured themes running the gambit from castles to barnyards and country inns to windmills. Photographs of the winning entries can be seen at

Winners in this year's National Gingerbread House Competition™ are:

• Grand Prize Winner: Heather Lewis, Austell, Georgia

• Adult (18 years and older): First Place, Angel Adkins, Kodak, Tennessee; Second Place, Barbara Evans, Edelstein, Illinois and Mary Jo Dowling, Westford, Massachusetts; and Third Place, Linda Carney, Asheville NC .

• Teen (13-17 years old): First Place, Skyla Delerme, Asheville, N.C.; Second Place, Carly Owens, Swannanoa, N.C.; and Third Place, Laura Malanowski, Newton, N.C. .

• Youth (9-12 years old): First Place, Lydia Gentry, Hendersonville N.C.; Second Place, Gabriella Arthur, Easley S.C.; and Third Place, Emily Spafford, Maryville, Tennessee. Child (5-8 years old): First Place, Christian Ray, Charlotte N.C.; Second Place, Shan Patel, Asheville N.C.; and Third Place, Grace Lebo, Nashville, Tennessee .

New to the 2010 competition is a prize for the entry that came from the furthest geographical location from The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. That prize went to Michael Villella of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Other interesting facts:

• From 1993 – 2009, there have been more than 3,000 competition entries from 26 states.

• The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa's National Gingerbread House Competition started with 12 competition entries in 1993 and has had as many as 397 entries in recent years.

• The Grove Park Inn's National Gingerbread House Competition has received entries was 26 states over its history. Those states are: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

• Tens of thousands of people visit The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa to view the National Gingerbread House Competition entries during the month-and-a-half they are displayed. The competition reaches millions of others through national media coverage.

• The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa has partnered with the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Grove Arcade to display National Gingerbread House Competition entries for the public to enjoy.

• "Good Morning America" has been hosting winners of the National Gingerbread House Competition since 1998.

• "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer was the first to recognize the competition as a national competition.

• The Food Network and the Travel Channel are other networks that have featured The Grove Park Inn's National Gingerbread House Competition.

For information on The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa go to: groveparkinn.com.

WSOC