2026 CREATIVE TIME ARTIST SANDCASTLE COMPETITION

On Sunday, September 13, we brought Creative Time’s iconic Sandcastle Competition back to Rockaway Beach! Thirteen years after our inaugural competition, we revived this sand-based spectacle with artists, beachgoers, and you–our Creative Time community.
 
Artists Anthony Akinbola & Audrey Lyall, Canal Street Research Association, Marianna Simnett & Eliza Douglas, Chiffon Thomas & Victoria Martinez, Dean Millien, Rachel Rossin, and Gabriela Ruiz battled it out for the golden shovel. Meanwhile, judges Waris Ahluwalia, Jodi Davis, Michi Jigarjian, Anne Pasternak, Pedro Reyes, and Julio Torres took on the nearly impossible task of crowning our champions amidst seven wildly inventive takes on the humble sandcastle. Throughout the competition, New York legend Charlene Incarnate brought her effervescent, full-throated energy as our MC while DJ BLKshine kept the beach buzzing.
 
First prize, the golden shovel and a $500 cash prize, went to Gabriela Ruiz and her team, Xavier Robles Armas, Lori May Orillo, Nate Sherman and Emmett James Palaima, for their ambitious lost city of “Ass-lantis” featuring a bespoke sound system blasting the classic SpongeBob hit, Jelly Fish Jam. Ruiz’s sandcastle crew donned inflatable sea creature costumes and got the whole beach ebbing and flowing to the beat.
 
Second prize, the silver shovel and a $200 cash prize, went to Dean Millien’s team’s (Joseph Olisaemeka Wilson, James Fisher-Smith, Viera Meepz and The Sucklord) loving and large-scale tribute to New York City’s finest–a giant rat–outfitted with Millien’s signature aluminum foil sculptural adornments.
 
Third prize, the bronze shovel and a bottle of Tequila Casa Dragones Blanco, went to Canal Street Research Association’s (Ming Fearon) team: Ryan Foerster, Abby Lloyd, Liam Quigley and Anna Pelavin, for their abstract and intricate interpretation of the classic New York coffee cup in the form of a canal, sprawling all the way to the beach’s jetty.
 
Special thanks to YUZUCO for keeping our artists hydrated with citrusy summer refreshments, and to Caracas Arepa Bar and Brothers Rockaway for feeding the crew!
 
Afterward, we kept the party going from the beach to The Rockaway Hotel for our end-of-summer Benefit Bash hosted by Michi Jigarjian! With DJ Maya Margarita bringing the heat and a signature Tequila Casa Dragones x YUZUCO cocktail cooling us down, it was the ultimate summer send-off. Thank you to all who joined us on the sand to make this such an unforgettable NYC day in support of public art and artists. We can’t wait for the return of sandcastle season!
 

 

Video by Jackson Jarvis
www.jacksonjarvis.film 
 
 
 
Photos by Natasha Moustache
 
 

Multiple Artists

Sandcastle Competition

Rockaway Beach, NY

2026