COLUMBUS, Ohio – Look up the word “winner” in Webster’s Dictionary and you just might find the photos of Vickie and Jennifer Noble.

This year marks Vickie’s 50th straight year as exhibitor at the Ohio State Fair. It’s Jennifer’s 25th consecutive year. Combined they have won more than 1,200 ribbons, trophies and other top honors.

In 1976, Vickie Noble entered her first Ohio State Fair in the Family Arts and Crafts competition. After that year, she was hooked and would go on to compete for 50 more years before transitioning into the role of supporter as her daughter has taken up the family tradition.

Vickie has competed in a multitude of categories such as Cake Decorating, Sewing, Breads, Cakes, Pies, Candies, Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Cookies, Crisco Pie and Cookie Competitions, and Cooking with Ohio Wines. Jennifer has competed in just as many categories, just not as long.

“My grandmother was the one who taught me the art of baking bread and how to grow and preserve goods, and I learned much from my mother as well,” Vickie said. “My love of the culinary world was inspired and made possible by them. I was blessed to have my grandparents and my parents as role models and teachers.”

Many awards, yes, but that may not be the biggest feat in Vickie’s cooking venture.

“My most prized award was beating my grandmother in a cooking contest,” Vickie said. “When I was young, I learned from the master. She was the one who taught me.”

Perhaps her candy creations have been the most talked about by judges, and the many friends and neighbors who still rave about those.

“I learned the candy recipe from my mother and I took that recipe and made a few changes to it, and have protected the recipe since that time,” she said.

“I owe my cooking success to my mom and grandma, but my dad was a cook in the U.S. Army too, and he taught me a lot of things from the long line of good cooks and bakers that he worked with,” Vickie said.

Aside from all the ribbons and notable recognitions, Vickie received a first-place award in the Cooking with Ohio Wines competition, received the top award for Fair Manager’s Candy Box seven years in a row and was the first exhibitor to win the Archway Cookie Award twice. Vickie and Jennifer also participated in a 2014 TV commercial for the Ohio State Fair with Vickie sharing about her family tradition of entering and her experience as a competitor.

Other than inheriting great recipes and learning from the best, both Vickie and Jennifer scour neighboring counties in search of the best ingredients. Vickie and Jennifer take the extra step to travel across central Ohio to find the right ingredients they’re searching for, whether it’s for a jam or a cooking entry.

“Ingredients matter to ensure a high-quality product for competition,” Vickie said. “I do shop at local farmers markets and even go to farms to find those special ingredients for my cooking. I always look for top-quality ingredients whether it’s strawberries, blueberries, apples – whatever.”

The two have competed against each other a couple of times.

“We have a certain rule at our house, and that is we never compete against each other,” Jennifer said. “I’ve competed against mom twice, in sewing and cooking, and she beat me both times.”

And they’re giving back. For the past eight years, they’ve served as food judges for 4-H food categories at the Hartford Independent Fair in Licking County.

“We’re always mentoring,” Jennifer said. “We’re finding people we know in our circle and encouraging them to enter contests, whether it’s cooking, sewing or whatever. We know, because entering can be daunting.”

Vickie has retired from competing at the Ohio State Fair but through local news outlets and self-promotion, she encouraged others to compete and attend the fair.

As soon as the Ohio State Fair wraps up Aug. 9, the two will exhibit at the Hartford Independent Fair (Aug. 9-15) in Croton, Ohio.

“It’ll be my 25th year for the Hartford Fair, too,” Jennifer said. “I don’t count the years. I just love showing and competing. The past 10 years I really focused on canning things like jellies, pickles and sauce. I also compete in cooking, photography and sewing. The fairs get in your blood.”

Jennifer grew up at the fairgrounds. Her mother toted her to the state fair long before she could walk.

“Over the years, things at the Ohio State Fair have changed from the time I first began showing,” Vickie said. “Certain categories like baking and canning have decreased. We had more entries and more categories, and it was more like a family. Everybody knew each other, and you knew who ran the fair. It was just one big family. These days you just don’t know everybody like you used to, but it’s still a great fair. It’s all about the people and the camaraderie, and there’s a lot of that. I still have good friends the I meet here, ones that I first met 50 years ago.