Indian sand artist wins international sand art prize

Indian sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik has bagged the Public Prize at the Copenhagen International Sand Sculpture Festival in Denmark.

Indian sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik has bagged the Public Prize at the Copenhagen International Sand Sculpture Festival in Denmark.

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The festival, which started from May 31, will end on September 9. The Odisha based sand artist won the prize, which was decided by votes from visitors to the festival, for creating a 20-feet high sand sculpture "Save the Ocean".

The visitors cast 80,000 votes to sculptures by sand artists from Canada, Russia, Bulgaria, Ireland, Germany, Ukraine, Ghana and India. Pattnaik got 23,000 votes.

Pattnaik had also won the first prize decided by jury for the same sculpture on the opening day of the festival. "I am extremely happy to receive two valuable awards from the festival," Patnaik said on Thursday.

Pattnaik, whose sculpture at Puri are a huge tourist attraction, has participated in more than 50 sand art competitions across the globe. On July 17, Pattnaik had won two gold medals at the Solo International Sand Art Contest held at Marbella in Spain.