YellowknifeSA国际影视传媒檚 own snow0-carving team of Niki McKenzie and Kris Schlagintweit, won the peopleSA国际影视传媒檚 choice award for their work at the Kiruna Winter FestivalSA国际影视传媒檚 International Snow Sculpture Competition in Sweden.

After testing their design on home turf, Niki McKenzie and Kris Schlagintweit travelled to Kiruna on Jan. 21.

McKenzie called the experience SA国际影视传媒渋ncredible.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淭he day of the voting, everyone who showed up between sort of a two hour time period was given a bidding slip to vote for their favorite sculpture,SA国际影视传媒� she continued.

There were around 400 votes cast to select the winner out of the six teams participating, which included community talent and a duo from Barcelona, Spain who took home the top prize.

The pairSA国际影视传媒檚 winning design was based on the native New Zealand (McKenzieSA国际影视传媒檚 home country) legend, Waitiri, goddess of thunder.

SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a very odd but interesting way to connect with my family and my culture in a very different way,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

The teams said interacting with locals during the three (and a half) day competition, which ran from Jan. 26 to 29, was a highlight of their experience.

SA国际影视传媒淪o [at] the carving site SA国际影视传媒� I would call it the equivalent of the Yellowknife Frame Lake trail SA国际影视传媒� everyday we probably had 100 to 200 people walking past, stopping to chat and see what weSA国际影视传媒檙e doing,SA国际影视传媒� McKenzie said.

McKenzie and Schlagintweit say the road to the comptetition was a rollercoaster in and of itself.

SA国际影视传媒淚 was canoeing past TonySA国际影视传媒檚 house, Tony the Snowking, in the summertime,SA国际影视传媒� said McKenzie. SA国际影视传媒淗e shouted, called me over, and showed me that he had found this new snow-carving festival on Instagram.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淗e very strongly suggested that Kris and I apply for it based on our sculpture from the last year in our competition,SA国际影视传媒� she continued. SA国际影视传媒淚 sort of handed over the administrative tasks to Kris and I forgot about it for about three weeks until she called me and said we were bloody in.SA国际影视传媒�

The group added that they were also shocked due to level of detail that their snow carving resumes had versus their opponents.

SA国际影视传媒淥ne sculpture from last year,SA国际影视传媒� said Schlagintweit. SA国际影视传媒淥ther peopleSA国际影视传媒檚 resumes include prizes from around the world and participating in dozens of competitions. ItSA国际影视传媒檚 quite amazing.SA国际影视传媒�

Through everything, McKenzie and Schlagintweit wanted to extend many thanks to both the Yellowknife community and different sponsors that brought them to the snow carving festival.

SA国际影视传媒淭he Kiruna snow carving festival got us from Canada to Kiruna, which was incredible,SA国际影视传媒� said McKenzie. SA国际影视传媒淭he City of Yellowknife gave us a great sponsorship as well, and the opportunity to do another snow carving when we get home, which is great.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淭he Snowking Winter Festival was a huge sponsorship,SA国际影视传媒� she continued. SA国际影视传媒淎 great support for us getting organized getting there and teaching us the skills that we had to place.

SA国际影视传媒淭hen, lastly, I would like to say just thank you to the Yellowknife community because the support weSA国际影视传媒檝e had from you guys (is) crazy.SA国际影视传媒�

Schlagintweit also added that Yellowknife is going to be holding a residents-only snow carving competition.

SA国际影视传媒淚 encourage people to apply to join in,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 not very competitive, everybodySA国际影视传媒檚 happy to learn, and teach, and have fun together.SA国际影视传媒�

As for future competitions, the duo says they plan to go for the gold in globe trotting.

SA国际影视传媒淲e will be applying around,SA国际影视传媒� said Schlagintweit. SA国际影视传媒淔rom Japan to the United States, and everywhere in between.SA国际影视传媒�