Darth Blader? Cheese Ball? Plowzilla? Colorado Kids Name CDOT Snowplows

In the bleakest of years, students across the state were tasked with naming the Colorado Department of Transportation's snowplows. After a blizzard of 1,100 entries, twenty winners were just announced.

Clearly, many of these students — or members of the selection committee — are punsters, since the chosen names include Darth Blader, Snowtorious B.I.G., Fresh Plowder, Sno-Way and Eisenplower.

Other winners, like Abominable, Snow Crusher, Plowzilla and Bigfoot, sound like monster trucks, and conjure images of a CDOT-sponsored snowplow rally with crushed ice sculptures and doughnuts galore. Another name serves as a subtle reminder to the powers-that-be that preserving snow days matters to Colorado kids: No-Way Snow-Day.

More straightforward names, including Arctic King, Blizzard, Frosty, Snowball and Jack Frost, also came out on top. The most nonsensical winner (and one of our favorites) is Cheese Ball — which is also a pretty good name for this kind of competition that the governor's staff seems to relish.

“The creativity of Colorado’s kids shines through in this great group of names and we’re appreciative to all who offered their ideas in this first-ever contest,” noted Governor Jared Polis in a statement announcing the winners. “When these plows and their drivers are hard at work in the years to come, we will all be able to keep track of their efforts on cotrip.org, or check for the name on the door the next time you see a CDOT plow on the road.”

For more information, go to the Name That Plow website.