In a twist ripe for bad punning, sticky business is suspected in a national scholarship competition that challenged students to create prom attire out of duct tape.

Because of allegations of vote stacking and an unprecedented recount, a local couple is currently in second place -- but still vying for first -- in "Stuck at Prom," which is sponsored by Henkel Corp.'s Duck Brand duct tape.

Center Area High School graduates Sharon Dranko and Joshua Humm, both 18, had placed in the top 10 in the contest last month. The second phase of the competition, online voting, began June 13 and ended Sunday.

Ms. Dranko's opulent hot-pink dress and Mr. Humm's zebra-stripe tuxedo had garnered them second place with more than 23,000 votes when the cyber-polls closed, but their top competitors finished with more than 100,000 votes, said Ms. Dranko.

"They believe the first-place people got a computer program," she said.

The competition operated on a "one vote per person per day" principle, allowing voters so inclined to cast up to seven votes per week. Ms. Dranko said the couple currently in first place gained more than 60,000 votes in a single day.

Last year's contest received about 51,000 votes total, and the enormous disparity raised suspicion, said Lisa Schwan, a Henkel spokeswoman.

Winners were scheduled to be announced yesterday, but because of the record high number of votes received, the company is "going through all of the votes individually, making sure everything is valid," said Ms. Schwan.

"It's like the 2000 election, I guess," joked Mr. Humm.

Ms. Schwan said the company will finish its recount and announce an official winner as soon as possible, ideally today.

"Some of the votes may be disqualified," she said.

The winning couple will receive $3,000 each to put toward college, as well as a $3,000 grant to their high school. The second-place couple will receive $2,000 each and a $2,000 grant for their high school.

Ms. Dranko and Mr. Humm will attend Kent State University in the fall. For Ms. Dranko, who intends to major in fashion design, the competition is not just a scholarship opportunity; it's a potential resume line.

The project took her three months to complete. She used 134 rolls of duct tape to make the 50-pound dress, which she gamely wore to her prom even though her hoop skirt was too big to fit in the charter bus she intended to take. Instead, she threw her dress in the back of her father's pickup truck and drove in the rain to the prom, where she danced in all her polyethylene glory.

"It stuck to me the whole time," she said. "I actually still have scars from peeling the tape off."

One only hopes that such scars will yield a big check.

"I took second place gracefully," said Ms. Dranko, but she is hopeful her status will soon change.

Yesterday, Ms. Dranko and Mr. Humm knew only that they must sit tight and wait.