Duct tape prom wear contest gets recount

PITTSBURGH, July 2 (UPI) -- A Pittsburgh couple who finished second in a duct tape prom-wear competition say they will not concede the contest until a recount is completed.

Sharon Dranko and Joshua Humm, both 18 and recent graduates of Center Area High School, said they believe the online voting in Henkel Corp.'s Duck Brand duct tape competition to create the best prom attire out of the product was tainted by use of a computer program to ensure a win for the first place finishers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday.

Dranko said photos of her sporting a hot-pink dress made from duct tape and Humm dressed in a zebra-stripe tuxedo made from the same material garnered more than 23,000 votes online, landing them in second place. The first-place finishers completed the contest with more than 100,000 votes.

Dranko theorized the winners used a computer program to circumvent rules that only allowed "one vote per person per day." The winning pair received more than 60,000 of their votes in a single day -- a number that exceeds the total of 51,000 votes cast in last year's contest.

Lisa Schwan, a Henkel spokeswoman, said that due to the number disparity, the company is "going through all of the votes individually, making sure everything is valid."

First prize in the contest is $3,000 each toward college plus a $3,000 grant paid to their high school. Second prize is $2,000 for each participant toward college and a $2,000 grant.