And the winner is...

Evan Kendall, of Carlisle PA!

It was a tough call, and judges were divided on the sandwich itself. While I waxed nostalgic for the Frankenfood of my own college days, at least one of our panel felt the soup/sandwich/condiment combo was "kinda gross."

Despite this, the general consensus was that Evan showed clear enthusiasm for the great American grilly (as befits a self-described beer & cheese geek), and significant ingenuity in raising the culinary level at the Dickinson College cafeteria. It was this bold and hearty spirit, as well as his bearded punim, which finally won our hearts.

Plus, of all the entries, he was the one most clearly in need of help.

Update: contest closed! The judges are conferring

Competition is heating up for our Grilled Cheese Photo Contest. Folks are sending in photos of themselves with their master- or monster-piece grillies, competing to the grand prize: a stylish Romano grater, fabulous cheese curler, and innovative partyclette from Boska USA:

Five runners up will also receive Boska's no-fuss, sandwich-ready toastabags, which can make grilled-cheese in your pop-up toaster for near-instant grilly satisfaction:

April is National Grilled Cheese Month, and in honor of the great grillie, culture is teaming up with Boska, and asking you to show us your sammich!

Entries are pouring in. Click to see our proud grilled-cheese eaters!

Everyone has one perfect way to make a grilled cheese... and we want to see it! Send us a picture of yourself brandishing your favorite grilly and you could win fabulous Dutch-design cheese tools from Boska Holland.

Is it a simple white-bread & American-slice traditional? Is it made with Grandma's secret-recipe home-baked bread? Tomatoes, bacon or Worcestershire sauce? Dipped in soup or eaten straight up?

Came across this today via boingboing.net, which should tell you everything you need to know. Lunchtime trickster Insanewich has a couple items that every hip 'n happening cheese blogger has on his or her desk:

Amazing what the right music will do to a montage.

So, a few days ago, I took it on myself as director of nonsense to post a graphic from "illustrator and wise-ass" Dyna Moe's hipster animal tumblr. I thought the artisanal charcuterie pig captured something about the eerie way sausage makers are suddenly a lot cooler than they used to be, with a nod towards the rather hipsterish meme of mascots who eat themselves.

Along with the blog post, I sent out a tweet asking why there wasn't an artisan cheesemaker version. This got picked up by somepigseattle (don't know why he chimed in-- he already had his pig), and our collective badgering prompted a reply: