The public had 20 choices to select from when voting in the Third Annual Mason Jar Decorating Contest this month. Hosted by Newtown Parks & Recreation, the family event has grown exponentially since its inception.

Parks & Rec Assistant Director-Recreation Rose Ann Reggiano told The Newtown Bee last week she was “so impressed with the creativity of the Mason jars.

“I’m so happy that we had so many entries,” she added December 15, the opening day of voting.

Set up in the southern corridor of Newtown Community Center, this year’s entries responded to the invitation to create a scene inside a Mason jar, like a diorama, or use one as the base of a design. Entries were received during the second full week of the month, with the public invited to vote for their favorites December 15-20. Parks & Rec provided the jars, in two different sizes, to each entrant.

On the first day of winter, it was announced that this year’s top winner was a woodland scene created by the Morris family.

The Morrises — parents and two children, according to the entry label — built a scene atop a round piece of wood, topping the base with elements representing snow, evergreen trees, and small bushes. Populating the scene was a large white owl inside a Mason jar, while a few deer and a red fox were placed around the exterior.

Reggiano was unavailable for further comment this week. Parks & Rec Secretary Jennifer Balbes confirmed the Morrises will receive a pool and beach family membership for 2023 as their grand prize. Additional gifts will be presented to the other winners, she added.

Additional honors were also announced Wednesday morning, including second place honors to Lauren Sexton for her snow-globe-within-a-Nutcracker entry. Sexton used her Mason jar to create a snow globe with a ballerina and glitter. The globe then became the belly of a mouse dressed as Nutcracker straight out of Tchaikovsky’s holiday ballet.

Santa, gnomes, snowmen, The Grinch, and elves all made appearances within the entries.

Malayah Santiago’s gingerbread house diorama, placed atop a pink pedestal, won her fourth place honors. Siblings Logan and Andrew McLaughlin earned fifth and sixth place, respectively, with their entries.

Logan placed Santa in a rowboat in a scene that had the jolly elf relaxing in the sun, a lighthouse within a Mason jar, for his entry. Andrew’s diorama presented a moose within a jar, surrounded by greens and berries, as his entry.

One clever design, by Damian Stupka, created an ice skating scene inside a jar, with Santa standing near a wooden archway to welcome new arrivals. Stupka earned third place honors with his entry.

Another diorama design illustrated the world of snowmen; “however a human has discovered this world and is spying on the snowman,” according to an attached note by creator Abby O’Connor.

Like the Morris family, Nate Szentmiklosi’s entry combined both suggested uses of a Mason jar, with a Christmas tree and gifts inside a jar, while the rest of his scene outside the jar depicted Santa’s arrival — by way of a shiny silver pickup truck — and additional gifts and a large snowman, with a lit star as the backdrop.

Lisa Layda honored her hometown with a diorama painted with silhouettes of the flagpole and a few buildings, with a candle inside the jar. A green and white Hope Faith Love-Sandy Hook Angels bracelet was wrapped around the lid of the jar, and a green heart on a white background decorated the top of the jar.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.