The epic snow sculpture picture contest results are in!!!

I said I'd give four prizes -- a winner and runner-up in the most viewed and most commented categories. I'm still giving four, but after looking at the specific results, I've slightly reworked the awards to reflect the four clear winners:

--THE GONE-VIRAL, BLIZZARD OF PAGE VIEWS AWARD goes to -- who else -- the fire-breathing snowman of Bel Air. Thanks to Nick and Anna Berte for sharing him with us and, later, the world.

--THE FLAKETASTIC FAN FAVE AWARD goes to the Montgomery brothers of Dayton for their Snow Castle, which captured the most impressive combination of comments and page views.

--THE MOST COMMENTED AWARD goes to the beautiful picture of the Snow Fort of Wilson Point, the post which had the largest number of comments.

--THE SENTIMENTAL FAVORITE, coming in fourth for views and third for comments, is the tribute to Scoobie the Dog.

And what do the winners win, you ask?

Well, since more snow is expected, I have some lovely Baltimore Sun Media Group traveling soup mugs for each winner. I'll be adding some books and DVDs to that, and will get in touch with each winner to determine just what from my collection you'd each like.

I want to thank all of the many people who took time to share the pictures of their incredible snow creations around the region. Looking at them gave me a huge lift during what was a very trying week for all of us, and I know the pictures had the same effect for many other readers, too.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: School's Out, Snow picture contest
        

Reminder: you have until noon to get in your comments for the snow picture contest. But as they say on "Top Chef," in this final 45 minutes or so, we have a twist.

And that twist is: If your comment comes from an IP address that's previously been used in the contest, it won't count toward the total.

So get the word out through social media, your friends, etc. But have people comment from another computer.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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The pictures of snow sculptures and snow creatures are in. Now it's time to vote for the winners.

There will be prizes for the post with the most page views and the post with the most comments between now and Wednesday at noon. A winner and a runner-up will be chosen in each category. If a winning post has pictures from two different contestants, both will win the prize.

So get the word out! Vote for your favorites, by viewing, by leaving a comment, and by encouraging others to do so.

You can see all 24 snow sculpture posts by scrolling down here. Good luck!

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
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As followers of our snow picture contest might know, the fire-breathing snowman of Bel Air has become a thing since he was posted here Feb. 9.

For instance, he now has a Twitter account.

And we bring you video uploaded by the creators of the snowman, Nick and Anna Berte:

Here's a previous fire-breathing project from Nick Berte.

Here's Gizmodo's take on the snowman.

By the way, tomorrow morning we will begin voting on our favorite snow pictures. Watch this space for details! New submissions are no longer being accepted. But if you'll never, ever, get enough pictures of crazy snowmen, this blog has more.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Kathleen Pryor sent these pictures for our snow sculpture contest from Relay:

The first is the porthole of a fort "w/ my neighbor's daughter and snow fort builder, Brandy peeking thru!!"

The second is described as "SweatySocksSnowman whose "feet" are melting away in the hot tub at the bottom of the photo!!!"

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

These pictures are from Daniel Schwartz-Narbonne, who built the structures with fellow electrical engineering students at Princeton University in New Jersey.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The latest photo from our snow sculpture contest (yeah, we're still going, though new entries are no longer being accepted) toasts our survival of this whiteout week.

It's a bottle of Grand Marnier, which I understand was constructed near One-Eyed Mike's in Fells Point. It was sent by a couple of submitters, including Debbie Jones of Black Ankle Vineyards.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 6:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Laura Tomaschefsky writes:

"I am sending this photo on behalf of my co-worker, Sherry Wrightson. Her grandson, Todd Wheeler and his sister Skylar Keys made a fort and Todd created this photo. They are from Wilson Point. What an awesome picture!"

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (147)
        

Tiffany Dunnigan of Dundalk sends us the touching tale behind this snow dog:

"This is a snow sculpture built by my husband, Sean, in tribute to our beloved dog, Scoobie, who passed away last Friday. Pictures do it no justice."

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (54)
        

Jennifer Weaver of Parkville, who describes herself as "a teacher with some extra time on her hands," sends us her cute snow creature offering.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

At my urging, Dennis O'Shea sent these pictures of an impressive igloo and tunnel complex in Rodgers Forge:

Check out the rest of our snow sculpture contest pictures here. We are soon to vote...

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Beth Hochwarth of Towson said she didn't have to do anything to get this snow creature:

"A cute picture of the snow on my bird feeder--the snow naturally formed to look like a bird."

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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This multi-ethnic snow person from Columbia comes with a story:

Philipp Kastner writes:

I sent you some pictures of the snowman my friend Ji Yoon and I built on Sunday afternoon.
Maybe he doesn't look that special at the first glance but I think the story behind him is kind of unique.

Juni Schneeman (which is his name) was built in Columbia, MD where both of us (Ji Yoon is from Korea
and I'm from Austria) are currently doing an internship. Even while we were building a snowman we where
discovering some cultural differences between Austria, Korea and the US.
As you might see he has a Korean face but did you know that in Korea snowmen only consist of two
spheres instead of three? I didn't :)

Even though these cultural differences are small you'll finds similar kind of differences everywhere
for me discovering these differences is what it makes it so special to live here in the USA for 10 months.
The wide variety of different cultures and people int this country where every single one has his own unique story to tell
is just amazing!

Best greetings and a lot of fun with the snow!
Philipp Kastner

P.S.: Juni = a Korean first name
Schneemann = German word for snowman

And this beautiful snow creature hails from Woodbridge, Va.:

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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This snow mariachi was attributed to John Scally of Pasadena, who is said to have created it on Sunday after the first round of snow.

The email goes on: "After being hit with another 12 inches on Wednesday, he dusted off the snowman and this is what he found!..."

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: School's Out, Snow picture contest
        

Amanda Nance of Dundalk introduces our latest snow creature:

"This is my Snowoman that I made earlier this week. I am a local bellydancer and my class was canceled Sunday due to the snow, so I brought class to my yard! I suppose her name should be Holly, since I used holly branches for her hair and arms, holly leaves for her eyes, and holly berries for her mouth."

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

Jennifer Groman sends this entry in the snow creature photo contest on behalf of Keenan and Michaela Murphy of Abingdon. She writes: "For aficionados of the TV program for kids Max and Ruby...and Ruby's brother Max!"

I'll take new photo submissions until tomorrow morning here. Look for voting instructions soon, after I have a chance to post what I have gotten!

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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This snowman, sent by Renee Main, facility manager of the Aberdeen Proving Ground Edgewood Youth Center, seems to be taking a well-deserved break from all that shoveling.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Our latest snow creature is this cool dolphin. Eva Kerchner writes:

"I am sending this in for my sister in law, Janet Kerchner who lives in Arnold, MD."

Janet had written to her: "This is what you do with all that snow! Beats sitting on the couch all day. 8 hours to complete!"

Now that the flakes have actually stopped for a little while, I expect more creatures to spring up. Send your pictures here.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
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The Maryland snow creature gallery continues:

PEEBIE3@aol.com writes: "My son was visiting from Florida and had never made a snow man, so that's what we did here in Bauernschmidt Manor in Essex...The Groton Fisherman complete with fish....."

And here's "Hugh" of Eldersburg, submitted by Donna Benson, who writes: "One of our sons and several of his friends built this snowman Friday night. Jeremy (in the MD sweatshirt) is 6 ft, 3 in. tall. We measure Hugh at 8 feet tall. He has become a tourist attraction in the neighborhood: families out walking stop to take each others picture next to Hugh."

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
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More snow structures for our picture contest. Have you sent yours yet?

This fort has been dubbed "The SnowBeast 5000" by its creator, Matthew Cain of Anneslie. He writes that the beast "has about 12 hours worth of work invested into it so far.
I based the structure around a plastic kiddy play fort then decided to
build an accompanying dome, or lounge area if you prefer."

See a video Cain put together of the fort's construction on the Charm City Moms Facebook page:

And here's an Ellicott City igloo from Anne Willis:

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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OK, if the fire-breathing snowman of Bel Air wasn't enough for you, now we have the snow-castle-building Montgomery brothers of Dayton, Md. (Howard County):

Eric Montgomery writes:
"This is Eric, Ryan, and Kevin Montgomery from Dayton, MD (ages 26, 19,
and 17 respectively), and we are three brothers who have spent the
past three days building the snow castle shown in these photos. The
towers of the gatehouse are 10 feet from street level to the top of
the crenellations, and there are six towers in total with a perimeter
wall that stretches over 140 feet. Two tunnels and a kid-friendly sled
run out of one of the towers complete the castle complex. But with
more snow on the way, who's to say it's really complete?"

In this photo, "Ryan clones himself":

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (113)
        

This morning we continue the snow sculpture and snow creature awesomeness contest with a panoramic view of what submitter Andras Frenyo describes as: "A wintertime living room addition to a home in the Joseph Lee Park Area. Furnished with chairs, coffee table and a log in the fireplace . . . ."

Click on the picture to open the panoramic version on Frenyo's cool Panoramic Photo Blog, where you can find more 360-degree Baltimore scenes, such as one of a snowy Mount Vernon. (That one takes a little longer to download, so be patient):

Watch for many more snow pics on the blog today. What, you haven't submitted your creation? Send it here.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: School's Out, Snow picture contest
        

A Ravens-themed snow fort, from Thomas Keller in Towson.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Here's an adorable snow penguin from Sue Slade of Catonsville. Keep sending me your pictures of creative snow contraptions and creatures for our snowmaggedon contest.

Don't forget to include your name and neighborhood with your photo, please.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: School's Out, Snow picture contest
        

Latest in our snow creature and snow contraption contest: a merry snowman from Hollins Market.

Shaina Wahl writes: "Here is our Snowman at Hollins Market- buttons of beer cans, a cucumber mouth. Photoed with: Peter, Brian, Trevor, Sebastian."

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Nick and Anna Berte of Bel Air sent me these pictures of the giant snowman they made with their children in front of their home. "My husband is an engineer and decided later on to make the snowman breathe fire," Anna Berte writes. "Hope everyone enjoys this snowman as much as the rest of our neighborhood does."

We like! Now if you could just get him to work on melting all the snow before the next storm comes...

Can you top this? We're running a contest for pictures of the most creative snow forts and snow creatures. Send your photos my way.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: School's Out, Snow picture contest
        

Who needs the Winter Olympics when you've got this awesome toboggan run David Hewes built for his kids (and, as he says, "anyone passing by") in Bowley's Quarters.

In case you haven't heard, we're running a contest all week for pictures of the most creative snow forts and snow creatures from Snowmaggedon Snowpocalypse SNOMG 2010.

Send them my way with your name and neighborhood.

UPDATED: Here's another view of the toboggan run:

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: School's Out, Snow picture contest
        

I'm starting to get a few entries for our creative snow creature and snow fort picture contest. Please send your pictures early and often, and include your name and neighborhood. Looks like we'll be doing this all week.

Pictured: The White Rabbit in Halethorpe, courtesy of Qian Deng.

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Now that we're finally starting to dig out -- and learning that many local schools will be closed tomorrow -- it's time for the kids to really have some fun. And for you to get them some fame for their best snow people and snow forts.

Send your pictures of creative snow buildings, snow families, snow pets, and the like to me and I will post them here, and probably elsewhere on our site. We will vote on the best ones for a fabulous prize.

By the way, there's still time to vote in our snow day screen time poll. From the results so far, it looks like kids are going to get away with a lot of TV viewing today and tomorrow.

(Snowman photo, 2002, by Baltimore Sun photographer Karl Merton Ferron)

Posted by Kate Shatzkin at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: School's Out, Snow picture contest