Eddie Ratliff, of Prestonsburg, displays the egg that won him $500 in the 2013 Great Easter Egg Hunt. This is the second year Ratliff has won the contest, having previously taken top prize in 2010.

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PRESTONSBURG — The 2013 Great Easter Egg Hunt is over.

Eddie Ratliff, of Prestonsburg, returned the prize egg to The Floyd County Times’ office shortly after no0n, Wednesday. He found it hidden beside a tree and covered in leaves, along the closed portion of Ford’s Gap Road, between Auxier and East Point.

This is the second time Ratliff has won the contest. He and his wife also won it in 2010, when it was hidden along the Garfield Trail, in Prestonsburg.

Being only the second two-time winner in the contest’s 10-year history, Ratliff said success depends on being persistent, but not stubborn.

“You have to follow your instinct and trust your gut,” Ratliff said. “Those clues, you can make them fit just about anywhere in the county, if you try.”

While he certainly enjoys the $500 prize money, Ratliff said he most enjoys the challenge of game, in which an Easter egg is hidden and then clues to its location are revealed one at a time.

“I like puzzles and that a good one,” Ratliff said. “It’s tough.”

Ratliff, who works at Big Sandy Two-Way Communications, said he keyed in on Ford’s Gap Road early, after realizing the clues were pointing in the direction of a hill in District 1 near the county line and realizing there were not many places that fit that description. Still, it wasn’t until after the all 13 of the scheduled clues were out and bonus 14th clue was printed that he was able to locate the egg.

Even when he found the egg, he did not think he had won.

“There was a lot of garbage in that hollow, and when I first picked up it, I thought, ‘That’s just an old, black ball,’” Ratliff said. “But then I looked closer.”