Hey, Peeps! It’s time to stock up on those marshmallow creatures, heat up your glue guns and enter our annual Pioneer Press Peeps Diorama Contest.

To participate, make a diorama of any size featuring marshmallow Peeps. The theme is wide open, as is our tradition — anything from current affairs to historical events, daily life, celebrities, religion, art or sports, movies or books … but the judges prefer family-friendly entries.

Here are the 2023 winners of the Pioneer Press Peeps Diorama Contest

Some people create their scenes in diorama-friendly boxes, but this is not required. Ultimately, it’s your creativity we want to showcase, as we’ve done since 2004.

When your marshmallow masterpiece is complete, take a photo or two of the diorama and email it to peeps@pioneerpress.com.

In your email, be sure to include the name, phone and email address of the creator or creators — in addition to their city of residence — so that we may contact them if needed. If the creator is 12 or younger, make sure you tell us in order to be eligible for the youth prizes (and include an adult’s name and contact info).

Also, please tell us about your artistic process — inspiration, methods, near-disasters — so that we can share your genius with the world.

The deadline to email photos of the diorama entries is noon on Friday, March 22.

Winners will be chosen by a judging panel made up of Pioneer Press employees. Diorama qualities we seek include:

How recognizable is it?

You’ll have an advantage if your diorama scene touches an immediate chord of visual recognition, like the entry that played on the iconic scene in Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd’s picture book, “Goodnight Moon.”

“Goodnight Moon” by Rebecca Tangalos of Rochester, Minn. Honorable mention, 2008.

Craftsmanship

We are impressed by miniature craftsmanship. It’s one thing to put a chick in a Barbie car or a dollhouse. It’s another thing to handcraft the Death Star out of marshmallows.

“Diner en Blanc Peeps” by Sue Shumate of Burke, Virginia, an entry in the 2017 Pioneer Press Peeps Diorama Contest.

Photography

It probably won’t win if it’s not a good photo.

“April 11 Snow Day in St. Peep, MN” by Joe Wicker, 11, of St. Paul. Little Peeple winner, 2019.

You don’t need to have a fancy camera or professional skills — just opt for natural lighting versus a flash (say, near a window during daylight hours); shoot from the Peeps’ eye level and get in close (fill the frame); watch the background (don’t make it too busy); and, finally, we prefer horizontally composed images (if possible).

Good luck, Peeps!

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