The winning entry, “Christmas on the Mountain,” was inspired by the creator’s name.

Eva Mountain, 12, fashioned a cozy cottage gingerbread house for the 18th annual City of Pittsburgh Office of Special Events’ annual Gingerbread House Competition and Display.

It was held virtually because of the pandemic.

The Franklin Park sixth grader at Marshall Middle School in the North Allegheny School District won the competition’s first People’s Choice award.

“My mom gave me a lot of suggestions on what to name it, but I vetoed them,” Eva said. “I decided I wanted to include our last name in the title.”

Once Eva had the name she went to work on creating the scene. She and her mother Meg Mountain perused Pinterest for inspiration. They said they saw many cottages and log cabins.

Eva incorporated the details from those to design an original.

“It’s exciting to win,” Eva said. “I like to do art.”

She’s very creative her mom said and does knitting and crocheting as well as other crafts.

“This is special,” her mother said. “It’s extra special to be the first winner, because it’s the inaugural year.”

Courtesy of the Mountain Family Eva Mountain, 12, of Franklin Park, poses for a photo with the gingerbread house she made called "Christmas on the Mountain."  

In November, Eva began with a mockup of a house by using frozen waffle boxes to create the size she wanted.

She helped her mom roll the dough and bake the gingerbread.

Eva measured and cut the gingerbread by tracing it along the cardboard pieces.

She used a slab of round wood for the foundation. She incorporated rosemary she bought at the grocery store for the greenery and royal icing to decorate the front of the house and adhere each piece of sliced almond she used for the roof’s shingles which took several hours. Two pirouette wafers double as logs on the side of the cabin.

Courtesy of the Mountain Family Eva Mountain, 12, of Franklin Park, works on placing shingles on a gingerbread house she made called "Christmas on the Mountain."  

Powdered sugar was used to represent snow on the ground and the roof.

The middle of the edible house is hollow.

Courtesy of the Mountain Family Gingerbread houses made by the Mountain family of Franklin Park — Eva, 12, Nora, 9, Micah, 7, and Isaiah, 6.  

It was displayed on the family’s credenza in the dining room near other smaller houses made by her siblings, Nora, 9, Micah, 7, and Isaiah, 6.

“That was until I knocked it over chasing our new puppy we got on New Year’s Day,” Eva said referring to Schuyler, an English Setter who was a surprise for the children. “And powdered sugar went everywhere.”

Eva’s entry pretty much led the voting the entire time, said Melissa Culbertson, the city’s special events coordinator.

“Eva jumped ahead and never looked back,” said Culbertson.

Just fewer than 2,000 votes were registered and Eva received close to 10% of them, Culbertson said. Eva will receive a gift card.

“It’s a really cute cottage where we would all like to be since we’ve been stuck at home so much,” Culberston said. “It looks especially comfortable this time of year when the weather is cold and dreary anyway.”

Judges recognized 60 recipients in 16 categories based on creativity and construction made by individuals, families, organizations, students and chefs from throughout Western Pennsylvania. Eva’s house was awarded an honorable mention.

The Gingerbread House and Display and Competition launched in 2002 when Downtown hotels held a competition to benefit the Children’s Hospital Free Care Fund. It attracts thousands of entries and was displayed at PPG Place before moving to the City-County Building lobby in 2019.

The People’s Choice award was open to any of the 180 entries. The gallery can be viewed online through Friday.

Culberston said they plan to have the award next year.

“The People’s Choice Award is a great way to get the public involved whether they can come to see the houses in person or virtually,’ Culberson said. “We think people really enjoy it. The entries are so creative every year.”

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