Rules and tips
Rules
Magdalen Islands Sandcastle Contest
38th edition
“Contes et légendes fantastiques”
To be eligible for the contest, all participants must comply with the following guidelines:
- The competition is divided into 3 categories : Adult, Family, Free style.
- Adult: The team can be composed of a maximum of 7 members and must include a minimum of 2 adults aged 16 and over.
- Family: The team can be composed of a maximum of 7 members and must include a minimum of 2 childs 11 years old and under.
- Free style: The team may consist of a maximum of 15 members.
- This is a “sandcastle” contest, so you must build a castle with water and sand only. No decorations made of wood, shells or other materials will be accepted. Coloured sand is also prohibited.
- No powered tools will be accepted for the construction of your castle. However, during the construction of your castle you are allowed to use hand tools, boards of any kind, containers, plywood… but at the end of the contest, your castle will have to stand alone, without the assistance of any equipment.
- Each team must be identified by a poster (provided by our team), containing your name and team number as well as your category. To be eligible for the competition, you will have to build your castle in one day.
- On the day of the contest, the winners in each category will be chosen by a jury according to the following evaluation criteria:
- Artistic merit, originality and theme – 45 points
- Daring and technical ingenuity – 25 points
- Compliance to the rules – 30 points
Categories
The 38th edition, will be divided by three categories. Note that all of the prizes listed below will be attributed by a JURY.
Adult
The team can be composed of a maximum of 7 members and must include a minimum of 2 adults aged 16 and over.
1st place: 1500$ | 2nd place: 800$
Family
The team can be composed of a maximum of 7 members and must include a minimum of 2 childs 11 years old and under.
1st place: 700$ | 2nd place: 500$
Free style
The team may consist of a maximum of 15 members.
1st place: 700$ | 2nd place: 500$
Criterias
Artistic merit, originality and theme
45%
Daring and technical ingenuity
25%
Compliance to the rules
30%
Total
100%
Tips and tricks
For builders...
- Choose the construction site of your castle, in accordance with the sanitary rules of the authorities of your region and close to the water (beach) or a water outlet. Beware of the tides if you choose a beach.
- Draw up a plan determining the style you wish to exploit.
- Define everyone’s tasks: shoveling, carving, and carrying water.
- Provide containers, sprays or other ingenious solutions for transporting water to your castle.
- Build a sand mound using lots of water and compacting the sand as you go. Remove any dirt (branches, hay, waste) and press the sand down well, the grains will adhere better and are more suitable for carving.
- It is essential to always carve starting from the top and gradually working down to the bottom of the mound.
- Spray your castle regularly with water to prevent the wind or sun from drying it out. These two natural elements are the worst enemies of your creation and could destroy your castle.
- It is possible to use wooden formwork to build the levels of your castle. Preferably, the forms should be at an oblique angle to the ground in order to prevent the sand from collapsing when the formwork is removed. Wet the ground well so that the base supports the castle.
- To sculpt, listen to your child’s heart, be daring and let your imagination run wild. Remember, build from top to bottom.
- Clean up the construction site around your castle before taking the photos. Be careful not to forget tools in the sand when you leave. Let’s protect the environment.
- Practical tools for the construction of your castle: utensils, spatulas, shovels of different sizes, sprays, bucket with or without bottom, biscuit moulds, brush, comb, plastic blade, wooden planks etc. Don’t forget, no powered tools, no decoration or coloured sand; sand and water only.
- Don’t be discouraged, sometimes it takes several attempts to build a part of your castle. Don’t take yourself too seriously, have fun with the theme and dress up. Remember, a sand castle is ephemeral.