The Winners of the 2024 Blue Devil Halloween Photo Contest Are…
Duke staff and faculty shared 89 photos in this year’s photo contest
Team: Duke Primary Care Creedmoor-Butner
Halloween has always been an important day for the roughly 35-person team at Duke Primary Care Butner-Creedmoor. Staff members at the clinic show up in costume and have an informal competition for the most creative costumes.
“It’s kind of a big deal here,” said Health Center Administrator Melanie Cangas. “We always come up with a theme. This year it was anything game related.”
With around 30 staff members dressing in costumes inspired by sports, board games and video games, the clinic won our team award netting 140 votes. For the win, the group will receive a dozen coffee mugs with their winning photo on them.
“This just gets everybody involved, people get really excited about it,” Cangas said. “It’s just a fun competitive thing. We love seeing what everybody comes up with.”
Individual: Kate Lennon
Kate Lennon and her husband Timothy have long been fans of horror movies, especially the series of films in The Conjuring universe. For Halloween, Kate, a Grants and Contracts Administrator in the Research Administration Support Resource, dressed as Valak, a demonic nun who is The Conjuring series’ main antagonist.
The costume, which included a mask that was hand-painted by Timothy, was a hit with her colleagues and our contest voters as it was the clear winner, drawing 372 votes.
“I didn’t wear it while working, but I did send everyone a picture of it after Halloween,” said Kate, who works remotely from her home in McLeansville. “They all loved it.”
It also left an impression with fellow trick-or-treaters when Kate wore it while collecting candy with her two kids, ages 8 and 4.
“I think it freaked some people out,” Kate said.
Working@Duke Award for Spookiest: Tyler Lee
For her contest submission, Tyler Lee, Program Coordinator with the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, shared a photo of the costume she wore to the Red Mountain Hounds’ Halloween Hunter Pace, a team trail horseback riding event she competed in on October 27 in Rougemont.
Inspired by the beloved tale of the Headless Horseman from the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Lee dressed as a Headless Horsewoman wearing a costume she borrowed from friends in who operate a theatre company in Burlington. While riding, she was able to see through sheer fabric and a small gap in the costume's blouse.
While Lee earned the Working@Duke editorial team’s vote for the “Spookiest” submission, and as a prize, will receive a bag of chocolate, her costume was a team effort.
“My trusty steed Arlin was a saint for putting up with the glittering and flowing cape,” Lee said in the caption to her submission.
Working@Duke Award for Most Creative: Nicole McCartney
Nicole McCartney, a Radiological Technologist at Duke Orthopaedics Knightdale, said she loves taking on holiday-related craft projects. The photo she shared of her homemade Halloween costume netted her a bag of chocolate for being our winner for the “Most Creative” submission.
Inspired by a costume she saw online, McCartney cut up a cardboard box, decorated it with fluorescent rocks and aquarium accessories and installed small black lights in the interior to create the feel of an aquarium designed to showcase colorful fish.
“I like creating stuff like that,” said McCartney, who also once wowed her team members by making an over-the-top fireplace scene for a holiday door-decorating contest. “It’s something I do. My co-workers say I’m ‘extra.’”
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