Jessica Ong, of Great Neck, creates a dress out of duct tape for chance at $15,000 scholarship
Jessica Ong, of Great Neck, created this prom dress from duct tape and is a finalist in Duck Tape’s 24th annual Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest. Credit: Duck Tape
It took 34 rolls of duct tape to create the butterfly-themed prom dress that Jessica Ong of Great Neck entered in a competition to win a $15,000 college scholarship.
The 17-year-old's piece was chosen as one of five dress finalists in the Ohio-based Duck Tape brand’s 24th annual Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest; the grand prize-winner, determined by two weeks of online voting at stuckatprom.com, was announced on Wednesday.
While she didn't grab the big money, Ong, a rising senior at Great Neck North High School, did win a $1,000 runner-up prize for the elaborate dress with wings that honors her Malaysian grandmother, who died in March at age 95. She spent close to 100 hours creating the dress using dark blue, teal, white, gold and black tape.
"I wanted to represent my grandmother’s grace and beauty," Ong says of her paternal grandmother, whom she would visit in Malaysia. "Every time I was there, she was always very positive. She had a good energy." In many cultures, the butterfly symbolizes love and life, Ong says.
Monica Walsh, of Dryden, Ontario, won the Duck Tape contest grand prize for her dress while Isaac Cervantes, of Pilot Point, Texas, won the grand prize for his tuxedo. Credit: Duck Tape
Monica Walsh, of Dryden, Ontario, won the grand prize for her colorful dress inspired by the Brazilian artist Romero Britto. The contest also included a tuxedo category, and that grand prize was taken by Isaac Cervantes, of Pilot Point, Texas, whose creation is reminiscent of a mariachi suit and includes a duct tape sombrero.
IF AT FIRST . . .
This is the second year Ong entered the competition. Ong’s entry last year, she says, was "way too simple"; she used only red and white tape and created flowers. When she saw the finalists in 2023, she knew she had to aim higher and try again to succeed, she says.
She was motivated, she says, by her love of arts and crafts and fashion, and also by the opportunity to win money for college. She doesn't yet have specific college plans; she'll be applying in the fall.
"It's a bit unfortunate," Ong says of not taking the top prize, "but it was a great experience overall." Ong says she's enjoyed the media coverage on television and in area newspapers.
Her quest began with her sketching out a design on her iPad. Then she worked after school and on weekends in the family living room, using a mannequin, skirt frame and plastic wrap to form the skeleton of the dress, with the duct tape as the "fabric." "It was a lot of trial and error," she says. "You get a lot of air bubbles and wrinkles. You just have to be really careful."
SURPRISE AT STARBUCKS
Ong says she was at a Starbucks on June 25 waiting to meet a friend to go to the beach when she got an email announcing she was one of the five finalists. "I was just elated," she says, and her first act was to immediately call her parents.
"She worked very hard; I was very impressed," says Ong’s mother, Helen Chen, 51, who works in real estate.
Finalists were chosen from 150 entries and judges looked for workmanship, originality, use of color, use of duct tape and use of accessories such as purses or earrings, , says Duck Tape spokesperson Caitlyn Ward. Duct tape is typically used for home and car repairs; Duck Tape is a brand of duct tape.
VYING FOR VOTES
Online voting took place through July 10 to determine the grand prize winners in the dress and tuxedo categories. Ong says her friends and family here posted on social media, and that her family in Malaysia spread the message as well. All the runners up got $1,000.
Ong attended both junior and senior prom this year, but she didn’t wear the dress. Duck Tape dropped that requirement from the contest several years ago, Ward says, because the costumes can be heavy and warm to dance in.
For now, Ong’s dress is folded in her living room. She plans to send it to the Duck Tape headquarters, and she says she hopes the company will display it with other 2024 finalists there.
Will she enter again next school year? "We'll see how senior year goes," she says.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
