Decked out in duct tape, NC student wins national Stuck at the Prom contest
EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS STORY WAS UPDATED ON JULY 18, 2025, AFTER NICHOLAS MOORE WAS ANNOUNCED AS THE COMPETITION WINNER.
When Nicholas Moore says he sticks to a passion, he means it.
The rising senior at South Iredell High School in Troutman won a national competition for his marching band-inspired prom tuxedo that he made with 42 rolls of Duck Brand duct tape.
Moore’s love of music and the instruments he plays inspired his tuxedo, he told the judges on his entry form for the annual Stuck at the Prom competition.
The Lake Norman-area student spent 92 hours on his suit, nearly four 24-hour days. His entry includes a french horn also made of duct tape.
“The french horn was my favorite part to create,” Moore told The Charlotte Observer in an email Friday.
He created the shape of the horn with wire and covered it with paper that he coated with glue. When that dried, he covered it in duct tape.
“Since there are a lot of different parts of the horn, I created it in five different parts and put them together at the end,” he said.
He used basic black tape for the main pieces of the pants, jacket and vest and used gold duct tape for all accents, including inside the jacket and the lapels.
Attention to detail
Moore was named a top five finalist in the annual Stuck at the Prom competition, and the only finalist from North Carolina. The grand prize winner receives a $15,000 scholarship.
Judges chose finalists on June 20, based on “quality, neatness and attention to detail,” originality and “harmony of colors” in their outfits, according to the entry rules page.
The winner was determined through online voting that began in March and ended at noon Wednesday, July 9.
Voters could cast a ballot once a day for best tux and best dress categories using their email addresses, with five finalists in each category.
Moore made buttons that displayed a photo of him in his duct tape outfit and the QR code to help with voting.
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A painstaking project
With white duct tape, Moore formed the sheet music that runs from the french horn on the back of the jacket onto the sleeves. Using a Cricut smart cutting machine, he cut out black musical notes to attach to the sheet music.
“I used a Cricut to cut all of the four instruments seen on the vest,” he said. “I wanted the vest to represent each instrument that I play: french horn, trumpet, mellophone, and baritone.”
Since he didn’t want to use Clipart images of instruments, his sister, Emily, drew the images, and he used the Cricut to cut them.
His sister graduated in May from N.C. State with degrees in art/design and math. She entered the contest her junior and senior years of high school and taught her brother lots about making such designs.
“The vest was tricky because the drawings were so small and intricate, so it took a lot of patience and trial and error,” Nicholas Moore said.
To shape the shako, the tall and cylindrical, military-style marching band hat, he used cardboard and paper and covered it with duct tape. He made the chin strap and plume out of duct tape.
Passion for the french horn
Moore joined school band in sixth grade, developing a passion for playing the french horn that only grew in high school, he said.
Moore has performed in his school’s concert and marching bands since freshman year. He was first chair in concert band last year and has been a section leader in marching band since his sophomore year.
He played in the pit orchestra for his school’s productions of “The Sound of Music” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
“This year, my love for music deepened even more when I joined the jazz band and started to play trumpet,” he said.
This story was originally published July 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.