The Sand Castle Dilemma

For over twenty years I have competed in just about every professional level sand sculpting competition on the planet. I have also organized sand events and judged countless competitions; which basically means I have the inner workings & failings of these contests figured down to a science.

Sand sculpting competitions are simple. They’re semi large-scale events that typically involve the usual live bands, vendors, vast amounts of alcohol, fireworks, and publicity; all of which lead up to the ostentatious grand announcement of the first place winner of said event. Shake of hands, pat on the back and the victor walks away with thousands of dollars of prize money and serious bragging rights. The public cheers for their champion and everyone goes home happy…well, not everyone.

Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder; so obviously judging art is practically impossible. With that being said, for those twenty years plus years I have seen a ridiculous amount of prize money given away to all the archetypal sculptures. How you ask? Simply put, everyone just got used to the tune of this broken record.

‘Master’ level sand competitions have been around since the 80’s. All of these events use their own organizers, artsy locals or competing sculptors to handle the judging of who deserves the impossible first place. By ‘organizers’ I mean whomever in charge of the event regardless of artistic background or reputation. By ‘locals’ I mean the lady who owns the local jewelry shop, the beach-town mayor or the beauty pageant princess. And by ‘competing sculptors’, I literally mean just that. With big award coin on the line, the artists, using an honor system, decides on who’s banking the cash. It’s all very peculiar to say the least.  

In order to understand why the judge’s outcome is customarily erratic at best; you have to comprehend where pro-sand sculpting got its beginnings. Most people’s experience with sand sculptures is as a child on a beach or backyard sandbox playing in the sand making castles, sea turtles, mermaids, dolphins or comical dragons with their family. The reason this sounds cliché is because it’s true. Sand castles, or variations of them, have been around for hundreds of years, and is still the number one dominated sculpture found in sand. Even to this day, the majority of the public still refers to any sand sculpture, regardless of shape, as a ‘sand castle’ as this is what they know. For generations, sand sculptures have had their roots deeply sunk in family bonding more so than any other art form. Worldwide, children and families have competed against each other in countless amateur sand contests, which eventually evolved into the professional level competitions that exist today. All the while, the main audiences of all pro-sand sculpting events are still families, and even some of these events are entirely run by families. It’s this domestic-driven fun that has shaped the professional sand-sculpting world, and without them, there would be no pro-comps.

Knowing this, we can now focus on why the majority of judges are not entirely open-minded to viewing sand sculptures as anything else, but as a ‘sand’ sculpture. Take any medium...steel, wood, stone or clay; make a sculpture out of it and it’s just a ‘sculpture’. Make a sculpture out of sand, and it’s a ‘sand sculpture’. Every medium has its challenges, but the fact that it’s made of sand unfortunately also means there is something of an attached decorum people unknowingly expect from it, like expecting flowers on a first date. There are certain elements within a sand sculpture that simply resonate with the majority of the public, especially from its strong domestic following. As odd as this sounds, there’s no escaping it. Female figures, large faces, elements of beauty, endearing features and architecture have a direct line to the people’s (and judge’s) familial heartstrings.

Another reason that it’s difficult for people to view sand sculptures as just another sculpture is the impossibility that they see it as. It’s hard to believe there’s no concrete or armatures being used. And the more you carve away, the more gravity-defying it appears and therefore more impressive…so it’s perceived as more distinct than other mediums. This is one of the reasons why judges started using conceivably the worst idea ever to come across the world of sand sculpting…the checklist. In many events, artists are rewarded points if certain guidelines are followed; height, technical difficulties, cut-throughs, how much sand was used, etc. These color-by-numbers criteria regrettably forces many sculptors to change their natural sculpting style in order to meet these required demands, making a mockery of the art. It became less about making a great sculpture and more about impressing judges with an irrational ‘bigger is better’ stance and supplementary parlor tricks. Even if there is no physical checklist at play at an event, the judges habitually run with variations of a mental one.

Even with these roadblocks, sand sculpting has come a long way over the years. Make a castle or a turtle and you’re the automatic winner back in the day. This is the connection that judges could relate to, this is what they wanted to see. Nowadays, sand sculptures have greatly advanced with more artsy, classical-type sculpts that could easily be showcased in a museum. Though as talent and skill impressively evolved within the art, the judging system still remains partial to the initial decorum. No matter how great a sculpture is; the attached ‘sand curse’ still applies. Marco d’Agrate’s ‘Saint Bartholomew Flayed’ in the Milan Cathedral and Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s ‘The Rape of Proserpina’ displayed in Galleria Borghese are both considered sculptural masterpieces and are viewed by millions each year. Though if either of these were ever replicated on the beaches of North America they would unfortunately be ousted. Nothing daunting or forbidding has ever really found a home at any sand competition; even if it was superiorly carved, it’s just too distasteful for the majority sand crowd and its modest judges.

It’s true that nowadays walking through the pit at a sand sculpting festival is akin to walking through a museum’s art gallery. The only difference is a museum allows you to view all the art, and not just the ones the manager will let you see. Even variations outside the judge’s playlist can be met with scrutiny. I personally have been told by ‘professional’ event organizers on a few occasions to stop sculpting ‘dark’ subject matter, referring to any imaginary creature (outside a dragon or unicorn) or anything that might go bump in the night.

So not only will judges lean heavily towards familiar regurgitated sculpts that play to their tastes and is easy on the eyes, but they also regrettably show biased favoritism towards sculptors when judging as well. It’s an unfortunate ugly truth. Then you have the events that allow competitors to judge each other. While they can’t vote for themselves, spouses have voted for each other regardless of the outcome of their sculpts; while some sculptors don’t even like each other, so no anticipated votes in those cases. Though far more common are those that simply vote for the obvious non-winning sculpt which then lowers the obvious winning sculpture’s vote count, which in turn could help secure a first-place win for the obvious second-place person judging…which is an even uglier truth.

Now let’s dip our feet into the cold, murky waters of sculpture title and background story. Titled art pieces are common. You walk through an art gallery, read the title of a piece and move on. In sand, it has evolved into something else entirely. It began innocently enough, but over the years clever sculpture titles have swayed judging and secured wins over better pieces far too often. Those artists who are attracted to sand sculpting effortlessly already have a natural flare for the required style, but a title is the sculptor’s chance to add even more flare, which does press upon the judges. It can create a deeper meaning of the sculpt, which can give it that winning edge. And if all that deep meaning wasn’t enough, some events also require you to discuss your piece in depth to the judges before the first place decision is made. Now that storytelling is compiled as part of the judge’s collective, it offers the chance to really open up the judge’s heartstrings and add any extra icing on top that first place cake. Sand sculptors have learned to play this game very well.

On a side note to judging, it’s exceptionally difficult to borderline impossible to enter a pro-sand event as an unknown sculptor, no matter how talented one may be. Because of this there is a lack of new competition sculptors, which also equates to a lack of diversified range of sculpts. Sculptors that have placed in any category of an event usually receive an automatic invite to the next year’s affair. Though regardless of wins, events have the nasty habit of inviting the same people back year after year. So by using the same sculptors, at the same events, with the same biased judging panel, it will only ultimately result in the same winning outcome. It’s not rocket science. This is yet another contributing factor as to why the same 2 or 3 artists will win the same competitions year after year.

Through it all, sculptors have been complaining amongst themselves about the judging systems since day one, but rarely to event organizers. This is primarily because the artists still want a shot at it next year so they must play nice for that gracious invite. It’s a damaged system that keeps evolving nowhere. In fact, the length that this train wreck has carried on for, just cements these misguided concepts even further for aging organizers judging their events like its still held in the Pleistocene era.

Mel and I now manage the sand portion of the Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Festival. We completely gutted, and hopefully changed a bit for the better, the archaic way of judging…at least at the Revere event. Sculptures are video recorded at 360° in 4K resolution. These videos are then sent off to a handpicked, open-minded professional panel of sculptors (specializing in a variety of mediums) across the globe where they visually dissect each sculpture and cast their vote. It’s that simple. There are no biased preferences, no clever titles to influence the judging, no ‘my dog died’ stories and no sculptor name attached to any sculpture. They just judge the sculpture and nothing else.

Professional sand sculpting will never witness its full potential if event organizers keep refusing to change their outdated methods. The current judging systems in place everywhere is more of a muddled mess than anything of logic, and trying to convince any event organizers otherwise is like pulling teeth. Again, art should not be judged. It’s unreasonable and there’s no fair system for it. But because pro-sand sculpting competitions make big money from gate fees, sponsors, grants, vendor sales, and donations, then the show must go on and the reality-tv audiences must have their winner…so judge away if you must.

-Chris