It was 11-year-old Amanda Nelson's first time carving a pumpkin.

The carved pumpkin of a cat garnered the most votes by McHenry County Patch readers in this year's Great (Carved) Pumpkin contest.

Congrats to Nelson, a student at Marlowe Middle School who will receive a $20 Target gift card from Patch for winning the contest. Nelson's pumpkin received 24 of the 58 votes in the contest. 

"It was her first time carving a pumpkin and I think they had different patterns to use if you wanted to, and she picked the cat because we love cats," said Nelson's grandma Rose Connolly of Algonquin, who submitted the photo of Nelson's pumpkin. "She did a good job working on it and it and it really turned out cute!"

The contest brought in several photos and resulted in six finalists, which readers voted on over the past week. 

Runners-up in the contest include Kudo Sun with 13 votes for a cocker spaniel jack-o'-lantern, and in third with 12 votes was this photo submitted by Joyce Malek. 

Thank you to everyone who submitted photos and everyone who voted!