Washington Post has announced the Winner of The Peeps Show VII: 2013 Diorama Contest winners. The seventh annual Peeps Diorama Contest brought in more than 650 entries.

Best Of The Washington Post’s Peeps Show VII

This year’s standouts include reproductions of oil paintings and controversial films, as well as replicas of iconic landmarks and democratic institutions. But ultimately nostalgia won. The diorama, “Twinkie: Rest in Peeps,” stole the most hearts and votes from The Post newsroom.

As is often the case, I don’t agree with all of their picks. So, after the winner and finalists, I’m showing you a few I think should have been honored, such as The Peeping, an homage to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining shown at the top of this post.

The 2013 Peeps Show Winner:
“Peeps Mourn Their Peeps: Twinkie, Rest in Peeps,” created by Leslie Brown, 55, and Lani Hoza, 48, of Charlottesville.

Lani Hoza, an advanced-placement psychology teacher, and Leslie Brown, a manager in the principal’s office, have a reputation among the students for submitting hilarious dioramas to the contest. Adding to the creativity and absurdity of the scene, the Peep Pope comes out of retirement to preside over the funeral of Twinkie.

The Twinkie will be buried in the graveyard where other departed treats, including Ho Hos and fruit pies, have been laid to rest before it.

Brown bought the wooden box and wood panels and took them to the high school woodworking shop to have them cut before she stained them. She also sews and made the cushions for the pews and all of the outfits.

Finalist: “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Peep”

Mark Rivetti, 29, is a three-time finalist in our contest. His latest diorama is an homage to the oil painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” by French artist Georges Seurat.

Rivetti made use of Georges Seurat’s pointillist style, which he’s coined as “Peepalism,” in his depiction of “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” where Peeps enjoy a lazy afternoon on the banks of the River Seine.

Rivetti made 30 figures using the heads of Peep bunnies and sculpted clay for the bodies. To match the perspective of the painting, the Peeps in the background are smaller than the ones in the foreground, a visual trick that makes point of view important to the scene.

Finalist: “Peep’s Chili Bowl”

The staff of the Corporation for Enterprise Development takes diorama-building seriously. The office team has submitted dioramas for five of our seven contests. Many of the members live in the U Street corridor, making Ben’s Chili Bowl a natural choice.

The team photographed Ben’s to help scale their entry, with the restaurant’s popular chili dogs and other dishes being served by aproned marshmallow bunnies. The restaurant is illuminated with a strand of holiday lights.

In the team’s homage to the U Street haunt, President Obama visits Peep’s Chili Bowl with his Secret Service detail while the injured Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III waits outside.

Finalist: “Despeepable Congress”

To make the Minions, they turned Peeps upside down and painted on their trademark blue overalls, adding red overalls, too, to depict the partisan divide.

Googly eyes tricked out with modeling clay and a gluelike substance made from confectioner’s sugar gave the Minions their wild-eyed mien.

At Siemens Building Technologies in Beltsville, a team began building a model of Congress during the State of the Union address. In an unexpected twist, Gru’s Minions from the movie “Despicable Me” replace the representatives and create “Despeepable Congress.”

“We didn’t have a political agenda or message, but we wanted to make a funny and common representation of Congress tripping over themselves,” Hughes said.

Finalist: “Zero Peep Thirty”

Nicholas Burger, 33, and Radha Iyengar, 32, economists at the policy think tank Rand Corp., wanted to depict a scene from “Zero Dark Thirty” without diminishing the importance of SEAL Team 6’s mission.

Judges marveled at the battery-powered, light-up fireball made of spray-painted cotton, and the realistic copy of the compound.

Now, for a few of MY personal favorites:

above: The Peeping, Submitted by Elizabeth Vogt,14, Lucy Vogt, 11, Brad Vogt, 47, of the District and Peter Vogt, 71, of Cabin John.

above: Life of Peep, Submitted by Kathy Ansell, 61, and Chris Broquet, 57, of Alexandria.

above: Banana Joe the Affenpeepscher bests an impressive line-up to take Peepminster’s most prestigious award- Best in Peeps. Submitted by LeAnn Lemke, 46, of Potomac Falls.

above: The Expose on Pink Slime Burgers being served in cafeterias comes too late to save these Pink Peeps. Submitted by Peter Yeo, 49, of Chevy Chase

above: Michael Peeps goes for gold at the Olympeeps. Submitted by Ron, 56, of Lusby. (I just love the use of the Chick Peeps in the pool coupled with Bunny Peeps as spectators)

To see other entries into this year’s contest, go here.
Thanks to Deb Lindsey and The Washington Post.