Key West holds annual running of the bulls in tribute to Hemingway

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Tom Grizzard defeated 141 other look-alike contenders in the competition at Sloppy Joe's Bar. Photo: EiTB

A white-bearded Florida man won an Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest on Sunday, the climax to a festival in honour of the late Nobel Prize-winning author in Key West, Florida, U.S.A.

Tom Grizzard, 69, of Leesburg, Florida defeated 141 other look-alike contenders in the competition at Sloppy Joe's Bar, Hemingway's favourite watering hole when he lived in Key West throughout the 1930s.

The look-alikes also took part in Saturday's 'Running of the Bulls', a bizarre reconstruction of the annual run held in Pamplona/Iruña - the event featured scores of past winners and current competitors in the annual '"Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest', parading through Key West's 'Old Town' with life-size replica bulls.

During his 10-year residence on the island, Ernest Hemingway penned literary classics including 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro' and 'To Have and Have Not'.

Look-alike contenders in sportsman's attire paraded across the stage at Sloppy Joe's Bar during preliminary rounds on Thursday and Friday, before a judging panel of former winners.

The bar was Hemingway's favourite watering hole when he lived in Key West throughout the 1930s.

25 prospective "Papas" made it to Saturday's finals. Tom Grizzard, 69, of Leesburg, Florida then defeated 141 other look-alike contenders to win the contest.

The eight-time competitor wore a cream-coloured turtleneck sweater, imitating Hemingway's look in an iconic 1957 photo portrait by Yousuf Karsh.