White River Junction -- Many viewers sat in their pajamas last night with a bowl of popcorn and tuned in to the annual pageant of glamour that Hollywood's Academy Awards annually provide.

But Liza Morong wasn't content to just sit at home and leave the all the glitz to Sandra Bullock and Helen Mirren.

“Honestly, I love any excuse to put on a dress and heels,” Morong said at the 2nd annual Oscar Party at Revolution, a vintage and specialty clothing store in White River Junction.

Also part of last night festivities were the Junk Awards, White River Junktion's irreverent take on the little gold guys that Hollywood doles out once a year, with categories like “Best Hunk in the Junk,” “Best Punk in the Junk,” and -- don't say you didn’t see it coming -- “Best Junk in the Trunk.”

Morong drove four-and-a-half hours from Camden, Maine, both to visit family in the area and to show off her dress, a Nannette Lepore creation that originally cost $600, but which she managed to find it at a Boston consignment shop for $65.

Accompanied by a fur coat purchased from The Pink Alligator in Hanover, the dress served Morong well, both as she stood on the red carpet and behind velvet ropes borrowed from the Main Street Museum to greet the stars of the Upper Valley as they arrived in a gleaming black limousine, and later in the night, when she was a nominee for Best Dressed Party Guest at the Junk Awards.

“I'm telling you, I should be Ryan Seacrest,” she said emphatically, referring to the ubiquitous host of last night's pre-award show in Hollywood.

Of a different mindset outside of Revolution last night was Liz Canner, a Norwich-based director and Best Upper Valley Filmmaker nominee who turned heads in her vintage Moschino gown, with a direct message written down the front: “You Can't Judge a Girl By Her Clothes.”

Microphone in hand and camera rolling, Canner quizzed arriving guests such as Vyas Swaminathan -- and others who weren't paparazzi-shy, anyway -- what it was like working with Quentin Tarentino or Martin Scorcese.

“Quentin's a really good director,” Swaminathan joked, “but I'm better.”

Thousands of miles from Hollywood's annual prom night, Canner laid out her reasons for why White River Junction's Oscar night was “the real deal.”

“We're much more glamorous. We have much more talent. And we have Junk,” she said of the Junk Award statuettes, purchased from Nana's Treasures, a secondhand shop in Claremont. In Hollywood, on the other hand, “they have some gold man,” she said.

If you were looking for glamour and pizzazz in the Upper Valley last night, downtown White River Junction was the place to find it.

Fashions at the Revolution Oscar Party ran the gamut of high to low, from Vera Wang to Fashion Bug and Old Navy. Perhaps a few had shelled out big money for their gowns, but many were found at Revolution, Listen thrift stores, or better yet, mothballing away in the back of old closets.

Self-described “vintage junkie” Michaela D'Angelo, of Etna, took home the prize for Best Dressed Party Guest for her Mae West-inspired ivory gown.

“I think that clothes from the past had character,” she said. “Most contemporary designs are mostly flat and dull to me.”

Prior to last night's Oscars telecast, Avatar and The Hurt Locker were among the favorite predictions of partygoers.

Back in White River, it was Hartford filmmaker Matt Bucy who was named the Best Hunk in the Junk. While watching that other awards show, Bucy said that he takes delight in watching the expressions on the actors' faces the moment they realize that their name isn't the one in the envelope.

“It's the only time Hollywood grades itself,” said Bucy, also a nominee for Best Filmmaker in the Upper Valley. “Otherwise, it's all box office, box office, box office.”

Rounding out the Junk Awards' winners circle were Jane Stetson, named Best Hollywood Look-a-Like (she's a dead ringer for Sigourney Weaver), Billy Sharff, named the Best Upper Valley Filmmaker, and Emily Eastridge, winner of Best Punk in the Junk. Then, of course, was the prize for Best Junk in the Trunk.

That prize went to Revolution's own Kim Souza, who made it perfectly clear that while her derriere is her best attribute, she won't be in the running for the same prize next year.

“That's an achievement I've made in my life,” she said, “and now I can move on and achieve something else.”

Katie Beth Ryan can be reached at (603) 727-3234 or at kbryan@vnews.com.