7 Shocking Secrets Behind The 2025 National Gingerbread House Competition Grand Prize Winner

The National Gingerbread House Competition™ has returned with a spectacular showcase of edible architecture, confirming its status as the nation's most prestigious holiday baking event. After a brief hiatus, the 2025 competition, hosted at the historic Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, saw a triumphant return, attracting over 235 meticulously crafted entries from 25 states across the country. The level of detail and technical skill displayed by the pastry artists and amateur bakers this year has raised the bar to unbelievable new heights, challenging everything you thought you knew about a simple gingerbread house.

The event, which runs its public viewing from November 18, 2025, through January 4, 2026, is more than just a seasonal display; it is a rigorous contest where structural integrity meets pure imagination. This year’s Grand Prize winner, Mary Hulsman, demonstrated a mastery of edible artistry that left the judges—and the public—in awe, securing her place in gingerbread history with a creation that exemplifies the five core judging criteria.

The Grand Prize Winner and the Secrets of "The Tiny Gnome Builders"

The coveted Grand Prize for the 2025 National Gingerbread House Competition was awarded to Mary Hulsman of Concord, North Carolina, for her stunning entry, "The Tiny Gnome Builders." While the competition faced a challenging year in 2024 due to external factors like Hurricane Helene, the 2025 event marked a spectacular return, and Hulsman’s creation stood out in a field of incredible talent. Her win was a testament to extreme precision, technical difficulty, and a consistent theme that brought a whimsical, detailed world to life.

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While the full, intricate details of "The Tiny Gnome Builders" are closely guarded secrets of the judges, a Grand Prize winner at this level suggests the flawless execution of multiple advanced techniques. The entry likely transcended the classic "house" structure, instead presenting a complex, multi-layered scene. Given the theme, it’s highly probable the piece featured miniature, hand-modeled gnome figures, each constructed entirely from edible materials like gum paste or modeling chocolate, engaged in various building tasks—a massive undertaking in terms of originality/creativity and difficulty.

• Winner: Mary Hulsman
• Winning Entry: "The Tiny Gnome Builders"
• Hometown: Concord, North Carolina
• Venue: The Omni Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC
• Public Viewing: November 18, 2025 – January 4, 2026
• Key Achievement: Grand Prize Winner, Adult Category

The 5 Pillars of Judging: What Separates a Winner from the Rest?

To truly appreciate the winning entries like "The Tiny Gnome Builders," one must understand the rigorous criteria used by the esteemed panel of judges, which includes professional pastry artists, culinary experts, and celebrity chefs. The competition is not simply about aesthetics; it is a test of engineering, chemistry, and artistic vision. Entries must adhere to the foundational rule: a minimum of 75% of the structure must be gingerbread, and the entire display must be 100% edible.

The judging is based on five critical categories:

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1. Overall Appearance: This is the first impression—the immediate "wow" factor. It assesses the visual appeal, scale, and overall presentation of the creation.
2. Originality/Creativity: Does the entry push the boundaries? Judges look for unique themes, innovative construction methods, and a fresh take on the classic gingerbread concept.
3. Difficulty: This is a measure of the technical skill involved. It evaluates complex structural integrity, the use of advanced techniques like pastillage or isomalt for windows and water features, and the sheer complexity of the design.
4. Precision: Flawless execution is mandatory. This includes smooth application of Royal Icing, clean cuts of the gingerbread pieces, and perfect symmetry or intentional asymmetry.
5. Consistency of Theme: Every element, from the smallest candy decoration to the largest structural piece, must tell a cohesive story. Mary Hulsman’s "The Tiny Gnome Builders" excelled here by ensuring every detail supported the gnome theme.

Mastering the Edible Medium: Advanced Techniques of Champions

The difference between a home project and a national champion lies in the mastery of edible materials and advanced techniques. The top entries utilize a palette of ingredients far beyond simple candy canes and gumdrops, transforming common confectionery into high-art building materials. Understanding these secrets is key to creating a prize-winning gingerbread masterpiece.

The Structural Glue: Royal Icing and Gingerbread

The foundation of any award-winning gingerbread house is its structure. The gingerbread itself must be thick, baked at a low temperature to prevent crumbling, and possess superior structural integrity. The mortar that holds it all together is Royal Icing, a powerful adhesive made from powdered sugar, egg whites (or meringue powder), and a touch of lemon juice for stability. Champions use different consistencies of Royal Icing: a thick, pipeable consistency for structure and a thinner, "flood" consistency for seamless, smooth surfaces.

The Confectionery Palette: Beyond the Candy Aisle

While traditional candies are used, elite competitors rely on specialized edible materials for hyper-realistic details. To achieve the level of precision seen in the 2025 entries, competitors leverage an expanded material list:

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• Stained Glass Windows: Achieved by crushing hard candies (like rock candy or Necco wafers) and melting them into window cutouts in the gingerbread before assembly.
• Water Features: Clear, shimmering water or ice is created using Isomalt, a sugar substitute that can be melted, colored, and molded into transparent shapes.
• Roofing Materials: Instead of simple frosting, winners use textured elements like sliced almonds, pecans, Andes Mints, or even tiny, overlapping pieces of pastillage (a dough-like sugar paste) to mimic slate or terracotta tiles.
• Miniature Sculpting: Figures, like the tiny gnomes in Hulsman's winning piece, are sculpted from gum paste or modeling chocolate, allowing for extremely fine, lifelike detail that cannot be achieved with standard gingerbread dough.
• Foliage and Texture: Edible moss is created with crushed cereal or ground nuts, while vibrant colors and shading are achieved with food-grade airbrushing techniques.

Competitors like Mary Hulsman and other top finishers, such as Adult Second Place winner Heather Nadeau, demonstrate that the competition has evolved into a demanding, high-level art form. It’s a spectacular display of culinary engineering that continues to inspire amateur bakers and pastry artists alike to push the boundaries of holiday tradition every year at the Omni Grove Park Inn.