Michigan Tech announces winners of snow statue competition

HOUGHTON — They’re huge, they’re vibrant and they’re freezing cold. The Michigan Tech Winter Carnival snow statue competition officially wrapped up early this morning and it was time for the big reveal.

This year’s theme was “While Frozen in the Ice and Snow, We Dream of Vacations on Which to Go” and the judges made sure to keep that in mind when filling out their forms. Most of the judges really wanted to focus on the details because that’s what can make or break a statue.

“I know even the smallest thing that seems insignificant take a large amount of time and you’ve done it over and over. So a simple letter takes so much time. So for me, I like to see the different types of lettering that the different organizations use and the creativity in the detail,” fifth-year statue judge Catherine Burns said.

But while others look for the details, more experienced judges tend to look at the big picture for these extraordinary sculptures.

“And the thing that you really have to do when you’re looking at statues is go across the street and take a look at the whole statue, so you’re looking at the whole thing. A lot of times people start judging statues and they’re too close to it. They can’t see everything that’s going on and they lose the whole concept of that statue,” 32nd-year judge Rob Roy said.

But after all the tabulating of scores and adding up points, most people can agree that the impact these statues and Winter Carnival in general have on the community is very significant.

“The tourism sky–rockets. Yes, we have snowmobilers, cross country skiers, downhill skiing and all sorts of other tourism. But this one week is just jam–packed. The traffic increases which is a great thing for all the local businesses, restaurants and Michigan Tech in particular,” said Burns.

First place for the all-nighter statue went to St. Albert the Great. Summit/WIE successfully defended their title against the other residence halls.

Air Force ROTC took first place among the student organizations.

First place in the women’s groups was Theta Chi Epsilon with their tribute to ancient Rome.

And we have a new number one for fraternities and overall. Tau Kappa Epsilon’s London sculpture narrowly defeats seven–time defending champion Phi Kappa Tau.

Full results are available on Michigan Tech’s website at http://www.mtu.edu/carnival.