The Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) celebrated the pumpkin on Halloween by opening entries for its iconic Giant Pumpkin Competition.
The competition offers more than $3,400 in prize money including last year’s new bonus prize of $1,000 for the heaviest pumpkin over 350kg.
Veggie patch kings and queens and 2023 Champion Heaviest Pumpkin of Show title winner, Downlands College are planning a return in 2024 and they’ll be hoping to recreate their history-making win.
Pumpkin patches across southeast Queensland will be pumping up their produce as growers vie for the heaviest title.
The prizemoney on offer for the Open and Youth classes is $600 for first place, $400 for second and $300 for third.
All pumpkins over 80kg are eligible for the coveted title of Champion Heaviest Pumpkin of Show and $850.
Last year Downlands College was the first school ever to take top honours over an Open Class competitor with their 202kg pumpkin.
The minimum weight for entry into the Youth/School class is 10kg and the competition is curriculum-aligned for Foundation to Grade 8, planting the seed of knowledge about the importance of agriculture.
Also, back to compete in 2024 will be Open Class heavyweight, Minden grower Geoff Frohloff, who has seen his fair share of prizemoney over the years and still holds the Ekka giant pumpkin record of 215kg set in 2015.
Entries close on March 1, 2024.
This article appeared in On Our Selection News, 9 November 2023.
