Winner chosen in ‘You know you’re an Alaskan if’ contest

Earlier this year, one Soldotna woman set out to unearth the traits and quirks that make Alaskans, well, Alaskan.

Hedy-Jo Huss has been trying to put her finger on what makes the quintessential Alaskan since she moved to the area. The results are in and a winner has been chosen for her contest in which she asked participants to enter the prompt, “You know you’re an Alaskan if…”

Jane Hill, a resident of Roseburg, Oregon who lived in Juneau for more than 40 years has been selected as the winner for her submission.

“You know you’re an Alaskan if, barefoot and naked, you can walk through deep snow on your back deck, in below zero degree weather, to get to the hot tub so you can watch the Northern Lights,” Hill wrote, adding that she and her husband did this often during their years in the Last Frontier.

The pair moved to Oregon in 2007 when Alaskan winters became a bit too much to handle, Hill said. They still come to Alaska once or twice every year to visit their friends and children, who still live in Juneau.

Of entering Huss’ contest, Hill said she tried to think of what made the state typically “Alaskan” for her and her husband, and that the winter nights out on the deck instantly came to mind.

“I just totally loved all 43 years I lived up there,” she said. “I love Alaska, I love Juneau. It’s just such a great place to raise kids. I love coming back every time I come back to visit.”

Huss sent Hill a small gift for winning the contest. She also chose two runners up: Edith Watts, a student at Soldotna Elementary who wrote, “You know you’re an Alaskan if you make snow angels wearing your leotard,” and Kasilof resident Jim Taylor, who wrote, “You know you’re an Alaskan if you you know Xtratufs aren’t members of a street gang.” Taylor has been in the area since 1959, he wrote, and his parents were homesteaders.

Huss said narrowing down the entries to pick a winner was far from easy.

“It was very hard to choose because people send in really clever ones,” she said.

Some things, like moose, fish and machinery became recurring themes throughout the entries, Huss said. She hopes people had as much fun writing them as she did reading them, she said.

“Now I know much more about what it takes to be a real Alaskan,” she said.

Reach Megan Pacer at megan.pacer@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Mount Redoubt can be seen across Cook Inlet from North Kenai Beach on Thursday, July 2, 2022. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Alaska not included in feds’ proposed 5-year oil and gas program

The plan includes a historically low number of proposed sales

A copy of "People, Paths, and Places: The Frontier History of Moose Pass, Alaska" stands in sunlight in Soldotna, Alaska, on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Moose Pass to receive award for community historical effort

“People, Paths, and Places: The Frontier History of Moose Pass, Alaska” was a collaboration among community members

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board Member Debbie Cary speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Cary also served on the borough’s reapportionment board. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
School board president receives award for meritorious service

Debbie Cary, of Ninilchik, is the Alaska Superintendent Association’s 2024 recipient of the Don MacKinnon Excellence in Education Award

Dr. Tara Riemer is seen in this provided photo. (Photo courtesy Alaska SeaLife Center)
SeaLife Center president resigns

Riemer worked with the center for 20 years

Voters fill out their ballots at the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Election 2023: When, where to vote Tuesday

City council, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, the local school board races are all on the ballot

Dianne MacRae, Debbie Cary, Beverley Romanin and Kelley Cizek participate in a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education candidate forum at Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska, on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
School board candidates wrap up forum series

The forum was the eighth in a series hosted by the Clarion and KDLL ahead of the 2023 elections

Signs direct visitors at the City of Seward’s city hall annex on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021, in Seward, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Electric sale referendums to be reconsidered next month

The two referendums aim to remove from the city’s Oct. 3 ballot two propositions related to the sale of the city’s electric utility

Sockeye salmon caught in a set gillnet are dragged up onto the beach at a test site for selective harvest setnet gear in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Fish proposals center on king salmon, east side setnet fishery

Many proposals describe changes to the Kenai River Late-Run King Salmon Management Plan

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Senior Prom King and Queen Dennis Borbon and Lorraine Ashcraft are crowned at the 2023 High Roller Senior Prom at Aspen Creek Senior Living in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023.
Senior prom crowns king and queen

In brainstorming options, the concept of putting on a prom turned some heads

Most Read