Young man with Down syndrome wins pumpkin competition [Video]

November 11, 2016

Every October, you probably see plenty of pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns scattered throughout neighborhoods for Halloween. But for Ben Benjamin-Eliezer, his focus has been on the same pumpkin since May 1st.

Ben is a 14-year-old from the U.K. with Down syndrome and – as of October 2016 – winner of first-place honors from a Royal Horticultural Society Show in London. The young man is a student at Beech Grove Bruderhof in Nonington, Kent, U.K.. With the help of his teacher, he planted his pumpkin in the school garden at the beginning of May. 

By the time the day of the big show arrived, the prize pumpkin was so large that it actually had to be taken out of its patch using a small crane. The pumpkin weighed a whopping 1,248 pounds and was in near-perfect condition, according to CBS News.