The gingerbread houses were judged on overall appearance, originality, creativity, difficulty, precision, and consistency of theme. Each entry must be 75% gingerbread and 100% edible.
Two hundred and nineteen gingerbread house entrants took part in the nation's largest Annual National Gingerbread House Competition in Asheville, N.C. this week. The Omni Grove Park Inn has held the contest for 30 years and this time upped the ante awarding $40,000 in cash and prizes, a 60% increase to years past. This year, there were new specialty awards like