Texas hosts one of world's largest amatuer sandcastle competitions

Houston (Texas), June 3 (Xinhua-ANI): Architects, engineers and designers competed on Galveston, an island city in the U.S. state of Texas, on Saturday in a sandcastle contest billed as one of the world's largest amateur sand castle competitions.

Sixty-two teams stretched along the island's East Beach beginning Saturday morning, meticulously sculpting their piles of sand and working non-stop for about five hours.

The entries included everything the contestants could make with sand and water, including the grainy renditions of China's Great Wall and a giant imaginative pumpkin castle.

Judges determined the winners based on originality, technical difficulty, carving techniques and artistic expression.

In addition to the top prize-the Gold Bucket, winners also took home titles including best team t-shirt design, best team signage, best costume, and public favorite.

The Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has been organizing this competition every year since 1986.

The competition is a fund-raising event for the AIA Houston Office and also one of the top five revenue-generating events for Galveston.

For tens of thousands of locals, at the end of the day, they went home with memories of a great day at the beach filled with art, fun, sand, and sun. (Xinhua-ANI)