Austell woman brings home grand prize in National Gingerbread Competition, despite flood setback

Had it not been for the tenacity of Heather Lewis, an Austell resident and the 2010 Grand Prize winner of the National Gingerbread House Competition, her creation would have wound up as just someone's bag of sugar, another's ground ginger.

Tens of thousands have seen the set of edible holiday gingerbread nesting dolls at the legendary Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville, N.C., and millions more saw it on "Good Morning America" this week.

The gingerbread creation is Heather's own holiday take on the classic Russian nesting dolls that fit one inside the other. She got the idea after her husband gave her an authentic set of the dolls he ordered from Russia for Christmas last year.

"I've been slammed all over the place because it's not a house," she said. "I wanted to do something completely different that the judges had never seen before."

And that she did. The piece itself is just as unique as the story behind it.

Lewis used to watch the National Gingerbread Competition each year when it was broadcast on The Food Network until 2005.

She was inspired to enter herself and enrolled in cake decorating and then sugar art classes at local craft stores. Her first foray into the gingerbread competition world was in Powder Springs in 2009. She placed second, but that didn't stop her.

She was ready to take on the Big One, the National Gingerbread House Competition. She had spent hours for days creating the characters for her piece–Hansel, Gretel and the Witch, from the infamous fairy tale–and she was working hard to get the rest of the piece completed.

That's when the floods came.

"I had about 10 feet of water in my house," she said. "I didn't have power in my house for months."

Yet, Heather was determined to compete in the competition.

Sweat, Sugar and Sacrifice: What it takes

She spent nearly eight hours a day for almost three weeks perfecting the molds for the characters. It was tricky and tedious because they were round and very small molds, she said.

She decided the tiniest character would be more of an actual doll so that people could understand the concept. The doll was made of Rice Krispy Treat because a gingerbread mold that small was impossible, she said.

Though gingerbread houses are light and fun, Heather was serious about the competition and about doing her best for her first entry.

"Nobody touches Mom's gingerbread. My husband knew to stay away. Everyone. My children know. They knew not to play around. They're old enough to know better," she said, letting loose a hearty laugh.

 "This is one of the biggest ones. You don't have a life for months."

Her dad took over dinner duty for about two months. She spent "hundreds of dollars."

"It's a lot of sacrifice."

For that reason, she almost didn't register for the 2011 contest, but a competitor-turned-friend told her to at least enter her daughter. She didn't want to have regrets, and her son reminded her that she needed to reclaim her title. But most of all, she wanted to make her kids proud.

Her 9-year-old daughter, Evelyn, placed in the Top 10 for the youth competition for her doghouse gingerbread creation, which she made completely on her own.

She spent "hundreds of dollars," she said, laughing.

She won $3,000, a two-night stay at a club-view room, breakfast and dinner for two days and a spa pass.

The money she received this year is like an investment to purchase items for next year, she said.

Besides the money and swanky hotel room, she found another prize in the competitors who became "great friends."

 "I just wanted to create something unique and something I could be proud of," Heather said, adding that she wasn't sure if the judges would hate her idea or find it ridiculous. "Sometimes the craziest ideas are the best ideas. You just go with it."