Noelle Westbom, 18, quietly made her way through a maze of tables and chairs earlier this month at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. As a volunteer judge for a jigsaw puzzle contest, she held a timer and encouraged the contestants, who leaned over their 500-piece puzzles, vying to finish first.
The atmosphere was far more relaxed than what Westbom experienced in September, when she competed in the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships in Valladolid, Spain.
“People there are very serious,” Westbom said of the first puzzle contest in which she was a participant.
She’s looking forward to the USA Jigsaw Nationals in Washington, D.C., this April; Westbom, a Montpelier resident, will compete in the individual event.
She said she’s trying to hone her ability to find tiny, almost imperceptible differences between pieces, such as a shade of blue that stands out in an expanse of sky.
“One of the biggest things is being able to recognize small changes in color and pattern,” she said. “Something a lot of people struggle with is gradients and natural settings, like leaves, sky and fur, because it’s so repetitive-looking.”
Westbom said she acquired her love of jigsaw puzzles from her mom, Nicole, the children’s librarian at Kellogg-Hubbard. Family lore says Noelle tried to complete one when she was barely older than a toddler.
She’s taking the SATs in a few weeks and plans to study mechanical or electrical engineering in college. Westbom knows she can’t make a living from “puzzling,” but she likes the friendly nature of the competitions. The prizes come in handy, too.
“Puzzlers can always use more puzzles,” she said.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Piecing It Together”
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2025.
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