Coney Island cousins Jedisha Johnson, 17 and Asiana Perez, 7, and their family won the 1st Place Award for Family Group for their sand sculpture “Pyramid” at the 27th Annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest on August 19. Jedisha, who is entering Long Island University as a freshman this fall, inspired the family to create a three sided pyramid.

“Most pyramids are made with four sides,” she said. “I was inspired to put dragons on it in honor of the sculpture that our family worked on our first year in 2015.”

The Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest also had top winners in the Individual Adult and Adult Group categories. Professional and amateur sand sculptors competed for bragging rights and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place cash prizes ranging from $500, $250 and $100.  The judges included Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, Commissioner for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The free family fun event was presented by Neptune/Sixth in partnership Brooklyn Community Services (BCS), Astella Development Corp and Alliance for Coney Island.