Sandcastle Competition Committee

Co-Chair
Lisa Bench
Gensler
Lisa_bench@gensler.com

Co-Chair
Ashley Hesser
CD Paragon, PLLC
ahesser@cdparagon.com

Staff Liaison
Alex Moreno
alexm@aiahouston.org

2025 Galveston Sandcastle Festival Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 38th AIA Sandcastle Competition, presented by 811 Call or Click Before You Dig!

GOLD BUCKET (1st Place)
Shrek Love Island
PGAL + Manhattan
SILVER SHOVEL (2nd Place)
Sandor
Stantec + Brookstone + PEA
BRONZE SHOVEL (3rd Place)
Llama Drama
Kirksey + Tellepsen + MGC
Best Small Team
UTMBeach
University of Texas Medical Branch Students
Best Team T-Shirt
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Sand
Dunaway, Butler Cohen, Burns Arch., A.S. Buldrs, Y&A Cleaning
Best Team Signage
Get in Losers: It’s a Sand-duction
HarrisonKornberg Architects / Bartlett Cocke GC
Most Epic Fail
American National Bldg
Galveston Local
Passport & Travel: This World & Beyond
Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Golden Banana
ZCA + PCC
Foodtastic
Wine Craft
cre8 Architects, Durotech, Matrix, CMTA
Let the Games Begin
Mario Texas Pitstop Fiasco
Perkins&Will, Clark Construction, WSP, Introba
Best Traditional Castle
Damsels & Dragons
Gensler/Harvey
Best Architectural Icon
Rise of the Forgotten Kingdom
Jacobs, JE Dunn, Estudio
Most Sustainable Team Presented by 811
Seagram and the Miesfits
Kashou Architecture & Lindsay Partridge Design
AIA College Challenge
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Prairie View A&M University School of Architecture

Sandcastle Competition Committee