Mass. resident wins Virtual "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest

Richard Costello poses in his restaurant in Chatham, Mass. on July 2, 2012. / Amy Tagliaferri,AP Photo/Florida Keys News Bureau

(CBS/AP) KEY WEST, Fla. - A Massachusetts restaurateur has won a Facebook-based competition seeking the man who most looks like Ernest Hemingway.

Richard Costello of Chatham bested 86 other entrants in the Virtual "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest staged on the Florida Keys tourism council's Facebook page.

He wins a trip to Key West to compete in a preliminary round of a live "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest. The competition is to be staged at Sloppy Joe's Bar during the island's July 17-22 Hemingway Days festival. The festival also includes a marlin tournament and a short story contest organized by Lorian Hemingway, the author's granddaughter, CBS station WFOR in Miami reports.

Last week, Facebook users voted for their top choices. Previous Hemingway Look-Alike winners chose 71-year-old Costello from 10 finalists.

Costello decided to let his beard grow out in January and says he often receives comments about his resemblance to the late author.

[ludvig1-2009]

I need to order a new Sloppy Joe's T-shirt. My old one from my only trip to Key West 16 years ago has a hundred holes in it.

[rwsmith29456]

I think that contest is ongoing but so far nobody has placed better than 'Honorable Mention'.

[raymailhot]

Yellow tobacco teeth and all the trimmings?

[lesserof2evil]

It would have been more meaningful to have a "writing like Hemingway" contest than "looking like Hemingway" contest.