A 2009 Post Peeps Diorama Contest submission. (Photo by Tyler Nelson)

A 2009 Post Peeps Diorama Contest submission. (Photo by Tyler Nelson)

It seemed like a dark day for Peep lovers the world over when The Washington Post announced it was ending its beloved annual diorama competition.

The Post didn’t pioneer the contest, wherein people create shoebox-sized works of art using the marshmallow candy’s bunnies and ducks as dramatis personae. That distinction belongs, fittingly, to the Pioneer Press of St. Paul, which began its version in 2004. D.C.’s paper of record followed suit in 2007.

For a decade, the Washington Post Magazine awarded prizes to the increasingly detailed dioramas, using new digital technology to show off the winners online to those who couldn’t make it to the in-person showcases.

Until now. “Hard journalism this was not, but for us the contest offered its own sweet rewards,” wrote Washington Post Magazine Deputy Editor David Rowell in. “As fewer submissions began to come in, though, echoing the decline in readership of this feature, we knew that it was time to let bunnies be free again, and we have ended the Peeps contest run.” The Post Hunt is also getting the ax, because it couldn’t secure a sponsor.

A sampling of reactions: ” Like 2017 in DC wasn’t bad enough????” “Noooooooooooooo!!!” And, from WaPo’s own Frederick Kunkle, “Dioramas die in darkness.”

But it is darkest just before the dawn. At least two local media outlets have pledged to carry on the torch (though not too close to the Peeps, for fear of melting them beyond recognition).

“The Peeps Contest is a huge part of D.C.,” says Dan Silverman, editor-in-chief of local blog Popville. “It became an institution.”

So much so that it appears the contest will live on even without the Post. Washington City Paper first threw down the gauntlet Tuesday afternoon with a tweet from editor-in-chief Liz Garrigan.

Garrigan confirmed to DCist that City Paper is planning its own Peeps contest. They’re currently hammering out the details and she expects to have more information about the nitty-gritty of the competition in the coming days. (Update: Here’s the information about WCP’s Peeps Contest.)

Silverman says Popville is getting in on the action, too, though he wouldn’t characterize it as “taking the mantle.” Instead, “call it hustling to salvage a slight remnant,” he jokes. “I envision it more as putting up pictures and showing people the dioramas, whereas The Post was able to host these intricate events with the dioramas themselves.”

He says he first floated the idea of continuing the contest on Popville as a joke. “I was just kidding around and people took me seriously,” he says. “But if people really want to do it, I’m totally game.” He sees his version as “much more local level, much like Popville itself,” depicting D.C. neighborhoods and dramas rather than, say, the Chilean mine rescue.

That’s also a way to avoid some of the more dour topics in the news. “As other people have said, if there’s going to be 100 Trump dioramas, that’s not going to be fun,” says Silverman. “2017 is f****d up. It’s hard to be super light hearted about things when civil liberties are being threatened.”

While some are skeptical about the reasons why The Post dropped the contest, Silverman thinks decreased readership and submissions is plausible. “To sustain the level of excitement of something that’s so novel gets harder every year,” he says. “You’re definitely not going to have the same level of interest as when it first started, but that’s not to say it’s not still great.”

For that reason, he doesn’t necessarily think his contest will be that big. “I’m not under any illusions that we’re going to be going gangbusters,” he says. “It could just be that people are sad it’s not happening and go on with their lives. But if people are enthusiastic, send me the pictures.”

Silverman is waiting to see what he gets before he starts figuring out prizes. “If people take it seriously and send real deal sh*t, I’ll talk to some bars and restaurants and get something good.”

While The Post has taken most of the local oxygen as far as Peeps diorama contests are concerned, the National Harbor has been hosting its own version for the past few years. The only catch? All creations for 2017’s competition must depict the marketing campaign #ThisIsHowYouHarbor.

National Harbor has also thrown a Peeps eating contest for those who prefer stuffing 200 of the marshmallow candies in their mouth in five minutes, rather than spending painstaking hours decorating them.

Filed Under: easter, national harbor, peeps, peeps diorama contest, popville, washington city paper, washington post,