Forty Pitt students faced two major challenges last night: The first was to create the most… Forty Pitt students faced two major challenges last night: The first was to create the most visually appealing gingerbread house in the room, and the second, most trying task, was to resist the temptation to devour their edible works of art. For the third consecutive year, the Pitt Program Council hosted the popular holiday Gingerbread House Competition in the William Pitt Union’s Kurtzman Room as part of its Finals Survival Week. Unlike other years — in which students competed for gift baskets — this year, they were fighting for $100, $50 and $25 Visa gift cards that the Program Council awarded to the top three winners. ‘The event was so popular that we had to turn people away,’ said Sarah Ollio, director of the contest and member of the Pitt Program Council. Though students knew the task at hand was not going to be easy, some were determined not to lick even a finger until they had constructed a winning masterpiece. ‘I’m going pro,’ said Pitt sophomore Emily Coulter, who modeled her structure to look like Pittsburgh’s PPG Place. Coulter wasn’t the only one hoping to appeal to judges with creativity. Her competitors across the room, juniors Tara Minkus and Kyra Elash, implemented their Hawaiian beach house, complete with sugary sand, which was one of the two ideas they had coming into the event. ‘We’re hoping our idea is clever enough that we’ll win,’ said Elash, ‘but we haven’t seen anyone else’s yet.’ Along with the anxiety of stiff competition in the air, some of the contestants felt they were not supplied adequately with materials, limiting their visions of sweet dessert shelters from coming to fruition. ‘We wish we had more gingerbread,’ said freshman Jess Woods, who worked with partner Julie Kepics. Minkus, the creator of the beach house, agreed. ‘The gingerbread house kits are definitely lacking,’ she said, ‘but we’ll just have to work with what we’ve got.’ While some students pored over their materials and remained focused on winning, others came to get a taste of the holidays or simply to avoid studying. ‘I should be at a study session right now,’ said student Reem Mahjoub, ‘but this is much more fun.’ Junior Katie Furlong said she saw the sign this morning for the contest and immediately texted her sorority sister, Meghan McPoyle, a Christmas fanatic. ‘She starts playing Christmas music at Halloween,’ said Katie, ‘so I knew as soon as I found out about this that we had to come.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ The Results are In After two hours of gruesome toil, the Program Council announced the top three winners. The Program Council awarded the two $100 Visa gift cards to juniors Tara Minkus and Kyra Elash, who created the Hawaiian beach house, which highlighted a surfing snowman. ‘Winning this is magical,’ said Elash, who said she plans to spend her gift card on Christmas gifts for her family. The second place winners, Rachel Lewin and Emily Priestas, who created an ‘Elf House,’ won a $50 prize. The third place winners, pharmacy students Lauren Costa and Josh Momper, said they owe their win to Costa’s sister, who came up with the idea to build a gingerbread White House. ‘I’m going to celebrate my win with a margarita at Mad Mex,’ said Momper.