Visitors stop in front the winning statue in the month-long competition in Michigan Tech’s Winter Carnival at the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house in Hancock. (Paula Porter/For the Gazette)

HANCOCK — Hear ye, hear ye! Phi Kappa Tau’s valiant quest ended in victory in the 2025 Michigan Technological University Winter Carnival overall month-long snow statue competition.

The winning statue, “In Search of a Maiden So Fair, Our Hero Enters the Dragon’s Lair,” showcased craftsmanship worthy of a royal court and earned Phi Kappa Tau top honors, according to Michigan Tech’s chapter of Blue Key National Honor Society, the Winter Carnival organizers. Blue Key announced the 2025 snow statue winners in the afternoon on Thursday, Feb. 6. Teams in month-long and one-night categories created statues based on this year’s Carnival theme: “Dragons, Knights, and Legendary Sights.”

Tau Kappa Epsilon secured second place overall with their month-long entry “Knights and Snow, Wizards Aglow, Hogwarts Shines with Winter’s Snow,” while Sigma Tau Gamma and Alpha Gamma Delta earned third place with “Dragon Skull Lies Where Gothic Towers Rise.”

In addition to sculpting their all-night competition winner, the community of St. Albert the Great University Parish Campus Catholic Ministries has also been hard at work creating the space for its annual Winter Carnival Ice Masses, held in the Ice Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows. This year’s Ice Masses were be held Friday and Saturday.

Of the 13 overall month-long statue entries, Phi Kappa Tau and Tau Kappa Epsilon placed first and second, respectively, in the men’s division, and Delta Sigma Phi captured third with their entry, “A King’s Legendary Tale, Shown Through Winter’s Veil.” In the women’s division, Alpha Sigma Tau took first place.

In the co-ed month-long division, Sigma Tau Gamma and Alpha Gamma Delta took the top spot. Delta Phi Epsilon and Beta Sigma Theta earned second place while Delta Zeta and Sigma Phi Epsilon captured third .

In total, 64 one-night entries were built during Tech’s traditional All-Nighter on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

Catholic Campus Ministries at St. Albert the Great University Parish earned first overall in the one-night building competition with their entry “A Work in Progress Reconstruction of Notre Dame with a Soldier Taking a Knee to Show Reverence.”

Of the 64 total one-night entries, St. Al’s earned the top spot in the co-ed division, with Cru and The Navigators in second and third, respectively. In the women’s division, Society of Woman Engineers placed first, the Women’s Golf Club placed second, and the Women’s Rugby Club placed third. In the men’s All-Nighter division, BaseBall Club placed first, followed by The Greater Hank Hill Fan Club in second place and Incognito in third.

For a complete list of all the Winter Carnival statue winners and events happening throughout the weekend, visit the Michigan Tech Winter Carnival website.

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