Persistence pays off.
Jason Stacks of Ashburn, Virginia, competed in the Pat Collins Snow Stick Challenge five times and made the finals twice — and on Tuesday he was declared the big winner.
Jason, 16, won his very own Pat Collins Snow Stick by building a giant mug of hot cocoa out of snow, complete with marshmallows.
He said he spent three hours on his creation and used a spray bottle filled with root beer to color the “hot cocoa” brown.
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“I was stirring it up with my fake Pat Collins Snow Stick,” Jason said about his winning photo.
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After snowfall in the Washington, D.C., area starting Sunday, the contest this time was the "Stir-Crazy" Pat Collins Snow Stick Challenge. After being cooped up indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pat asked viewers to get on sleds, build snow people and show their best while remaining snow-cially distanced.
“Wow. It’s even better in person,” the winner of a Pat Collins Snow Stick said with a satisfied nod.
Jason beat one competitor who built an igloo for his dogs, another who reenacted a Nationals game and another who used a laptop while sitting in a snow-filled kiddie pool.
Photos: Finalists in the ‘Stir-Crazy' Pat Collins Snow Stick Challenge
An all-star panel of News4 judges used an Olympic-style scoring method, holding up numbers, to select a winner.
“You could tell he put a lot of effort in it. There’s a lot of joy in this entry as well. I love it,” News4’s Eun Yang said about Jason’s mug of hot snow-coa.
“I don’t even like chocolate but just seeing this made me wanna have a cup of hot cocoa,” News4’s Shawn Yancy said.
Jason was happy to get a Snow Stick of his very own.
“Wow. It’s even better in person,” he said with a satisfied nod.
Thank you to everyone who entered, and stay tuned for the next challenge!