In the spirit of the season, an ugly Christmas sweater contest was held at Northwestern Lehigh High School six days before the winter break.

Junior Maya Hambrick and physics teacher Andrew Marth emerged the winners.

Marth said he actually purchased his sweater at Walmart.

Hambrick said her sweater was given to her by her mother.

“My mother couldn’t win the ugly sweater contest with this,” she said, but Lady Luck was on her side this year.

The two victors walked away from the contest with enviable gifts including Dunkin’ Donuts’ gift cards, a gingerbread house and “the beautiful sash they’re proudly wearing,” contest coordinator Steph Dunbar said.

Eleven faculty members and 11 students entered the contest.

“We then created a Google [document] so students and faculty could vote,” Dunbar said. “One hundred people voted.”

The ugly Christmas sweater has become a holiday staple.

In an article called “The Ugly Christmas Sweater,” inventor expert Mary Bellis admits she doesn’t really know how the sweater phenomenon started, but she does attempt to define what an ugly Christmas sweater is.

Using adjectives such as “tacky” and “gaudy,” she says the truly ugly Christmas sweater has “more embellishments, more tinsel, and more Christmas themed decorations attached to the sweater.”

These winning sweaters definitely fit the bill.