The votes are in! Duck® brand is excited to announce the 20th Annual Stuck at Prom® Scholarship Contest Grand Prize Winners, with Best Dress awarded to Peyton Manker of Sparta, Illinois, and Ashton Cordisco of Marietta, Georgia, taking the crown for Best Tux.
The two talented teen designers stuck out from the crowd of incredible entries and captured the public vote to earn their titles – and big scholarship dollars. Manker and Cordisco will each receive a $10,000 scholarship prize.
“Despite the unusual circumstances surrounding this year’s contest, we were blown away by the near record high turnout of 355 entries and the talent displayed by each of our finalists,” says Ashley Luke, Senior Product Manager and Global Brand Manager at Duck® Brand’s parent company, Shurtape Technologies, LLC. “We’re so inspired by Peyton, Ashton and the rest of our 2020 participants for using their creativity to brighten the world during these unprecedented times.”
Learn more about this year’s winners and their one-of-a-kind Duck Tape® designs:
2020 Stuck at Prom® Grand Prize Dress Winner: Peyton Manker
Manker spent 395 hours crafting her entry out of 41 rolls of Duck Tape® brand duct tape. Her paneled ball gown featured countless intricate details portraying images drawn from the coronavirus pandemic. From doctors and grocery workers to classmates experiencing a virtual graduation, Manker’s creation featured tributes to all of those whose lives have been affected by the virus. To complement her dress, she also designed a variety of Duck Tape® accessories, including jewelry, shoes, a virus-shaped handbag and a mask encouraging others to help “flatten the curve.”
“The coronavirus pandemic became my inspiration for my dress once it hit the USA and took my peers and I out of school and canceled our senior proms. I chose to represent how the coronavirus affected not only us, but the world through artwork I created myself,” says Manker of her gown.
2020 Stuck at Prom® Grand Prize Tux Winner: Ashton Cordisco
Cordisco spent 80 hours crafting his entry using 27 rolls of Duck Tape®. Inspired and challenged by his art teacher, he set out to create his own piece of wearable modern art incorporating as many colors as possible. He used all deceased Masterpiece Artists as his inspiration, and paid respect to the greats in his classy, fun and unique design full of intricate details.
Cordisco, who has been accepted to Savannah College of Art & Design, is excited to continue his studies with help from his Stuck at Prom® winnings. He says the best part of the process was sharing the pictures and video of the finished tuxedo with his art teacher, whose passion for art influenced his decision to pursue a career in design.
The ten finalists, selected by a panel of judges, were encouraged to drum up support and votes for their entries using word of mouth, social media, local news outlets and any other creative methods they could dream up. The eight runners-up will each receive $500 scholarships and Duck® Brand prize packs worth $100. These finalists include: Ainsley Dunning, Anna Knall, Courtney Barber, Erick Friend, Joshua O’Halla, Larry Inniss III, Lena Hart and Zipporah Wills.
Learn more about the 20th Annual Duck® Brand Stuck at Prom® Scholarship Contest at StuckAtProm.com.
