2012 National Beard and Moustache Championships

Patrick Fette from Louisville, Ky., took first place in the English mustache category. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Nov. 14, 2012 9:31 AM PT

California lived up to its Golden State nickname at the 2012 National Beard and Moustache Championships held Nov. 11 in Las Vegas, taking home six first-place wins and 17 medals overall from the 54 awarded across 18 categories of mustache, partial beard and full beard. Read more about the competition here.

Wojo Wrzesniewski of the Toronto Facial Hair Club won in the Fu Manchu category, making him the first Canadian to take top honors in the third annual competition, which is open to beardsmen and ‘stache-thletes from around the world. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Guy Thompson from Port Angeles, Wash., won in the natural goatees category. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Jeffrey Moustache of Los Angeles won gold in the full beard Verdi category. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Adam Orcutt from Michigan City, Ind., grabbed first place in the natural mustache category. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Fritz Sendlhofer of Austria took first place in the full beard Garibaldi category and won the crowd favorite award. (Glenn Pinkerton / EPA)

German competitor Gerhard Knapp, known as “the grandfather of competitive bearding,” took third place in the full beard freestyle category. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Daniel Lawlor of Los Angeles took first place in the freestyle mustache category. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)