Sweden's wonderful world of gingerbread

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (REUTERS) - A Swedish Christmas competition to build a gingerbread house attracted over 160 entries, with the winner of the popular vote going to an economics student for her intricate miniature city that took 40 hours of hard work to build.

Organized by Arkedes, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design, the competition, held on Sunday (Dec 18) is now in its 26th year and its popularity shows no signs of waning.

Ms Sandra Nolgren, the centre's communications manager, said: "We have a tradition to always make gingerbread houses, and even though we have made this competition for 26 years, I feel the interest is getting bigger and bigger."

Winner Evalina Asp told Reuters that the idea behind her painstakingly-decorated creation was her interpretation of this year's theme for the competition.

"The competition's concept is called 'Hemligheter' in Swedish, and it's 'Secrets' in English," she explained.

She added: "I don't know the whole story behind it, but I know that most families do it around Christmas because it's a nice tradition. You do it with your family, you sit down, listen to some Christmas music and have a nice time."

The 161 colorful houses, decorated with a delicious array of icing and candy, will remain on display until Jan 8.