HUNDREDS of stocky, white bearded men have flocked to Key West in Florida to participate in a four-day Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest.

The competition is part of an annual festival that has proven very popular in the city, with 150 hopefuls in this year’s event – coming from as far as Australia and Norway to participate.

The Hemingway festival coincides with Hemingway Day, paying homage to the literary great who resided in Key West during the 1930s.

It is is held at Sloppy Joe’s Bar where the author often enjoyed cocktails with friends.

Each aspiring doppelgänger donned safari clothes and fisherman’s outfits to take on the Nobel Prize winner’s persona, and impressed judges by singing, reading poetry and shadow boxing.

This year, American celebrity chef Paula Deen’s white bearded husband Michael Groover took home the title.

Groover has been a dedicated entrant.

After eight previous attempts in the competition he said his persistence and family support was the key to finally winning.

“I think everybody really has to pay their dues, and I did,” he said after accepting his trophy.

The look-alike competition raises money for a scholarship program, offered to a student studying in the Florida Keys each year.

So far, the competition has generated $150,000 to for scholarships.