There are very few events in the Caribbean and Atlantic island world where the venue alone guarantees that every photograph you take will be extraordinary. The Bermuda Sandcastle Competition at Horseshoe Bay is one of them. Set on the famous pink sand of Horseshoe Bay Beach in Southampton Parish, widely recognized as one of the most beautiful beaches on earth, this annual Labour Day weekend tradition takes the already extraordinary setting and fills it with handcrafted sand sculptures ranging from meticulously detailed castle turrets to wild creature forms that make you stop, stare, and genuinely marvel at what a team of six people with simple tools and six hours can pull from a mound of Bermudian sand.
In 2026, the competition takes place on Sunday, August 30, 2026, and it remains exactly what founder Nicky Gurret intended when she created it in 1995: completely free to enter, open to everyone from children to visiting tourists to corporate teams, and rooted in the simple joy of making something beautiful on one of the world's most beautiful beaches.
"The Bermuda Sandcastle Competition is the kind of event that reminds you that the best things, genuinely and without qualification, do not always cost a thing."
The History Behind Bermuda's Most Beloved Beach Tradition
Nicky Gurret's Vision Lives On
Nicky Gurret founded the Bermuda Sandcastle Competition in 1995 with a vision that has proven remarkably durable across three decades. Rather than creating a professional or commercial competition, she built something explicitly community-facing, keeping the entry free, the categories accessible to all ages, and the atmosphere focused on creativity and fun rather than prestige. Thirty-one years later, the competition is exactly what it was at the start, only bigger, more beloved, and more deeply embedded in the Bermudian summer calendar.
The competition is now organized by Hannah Emmerson, who carries Gurret's founding philosophy forward with genuine enthusiasm, describing the event as the island's favorite public beach gathering and consistently using her social media presence at @bermudasandcastle to build anticipation year-round. In January 2026, she welcomed the new year by declaring her intent to make 2026 a year of sparkle, magic, wonder, and joy, which is a fair summary of what every Sandcastle Competition day delivers to everyone who shows up at Horseshoe Bay.
"The event draws an audience that spans every demographic on the island."
Local Bermudian families who have been participating since the early years now bring the next generation. Visiting tourists discover it on their first trip and return specifically for it in subsequent years. Corporate teams from Hamilton's financial and insurance sector use it as their end-of-summer team event. And international sandcastle artists, some with genuine professional credentials in sand sculpting, travel specifically to Bermuda to compete on Labour Day weekend.
The Confirmed Date, Location, and Format for 2026
Everything You Need Before August 30
Everything confirmed for the 2026 Bermuda Sandcastle Competition:
- Date: Sunday, August 30, 2026 (Bermuda Labour Day weekend)
- Venue: Horseshoe Bay Beach, Southampton Parish, Bermuda
- Check-in: 9:30 a.m. to noon
- Building Start: 10:00 a.m.
- Building Deadline: 4:00 p.m. (all tools down)
- Judging: 4:00 p.m. onwards
- Prize Giving: After judging, at the main tent
- Entry Fee: Completely free
Teams of up to six people register into one of the competition's categories and arrive at Horseshoe Bay to be assigned their 8-foot by 8-foot building plot. Each team receives a pre-built mound of sand to give them a head start, and from 10:00 a.m. the entire beach becomes a hive of sculpting, shaping, and creative problem-solving that plays out against one of the most spectacular coastal backdrops in the world.
Competition Categories: Who Can Enter and How
Inclusive Entry for All Ages and Skills
One of the things that makes the Bermuda Sandcastle Competition so genuinely inclusive is the category structure. Rather than pitting professionals against beginners in a single open class, the competition organizes entrants into groups that ensure everyone is competing on comparable terms:
- Children (Under 12): Junior teams of young sandcastle builders who consistently produce some of the most creatively uninhibited work of the entire competition
- Teenagers: The adolescent category that has historically generated some of the most ambitious and technically surprising entries on the beach
- Family: Mixed-age teams combining parents, children, and extended family members in the format that best captures the community spirit the event was founded on
- Adults: Open adult category for teams of up to six who fall outside the family format
- Visitor/Tourist: A dedicated category for travelers visiting Bermuda, which makes the Sandcastle Competition one of the only major Bermudian cultural events that gives international visitors their own competitive division. The tourist prizes are sponsored by Hamilton Princess Hotel and Beach Club
- Companies: The corporate category draws teams from Bermuda's financial, insurance, legal, and hospitality sectors and is consistently one of the most competitive and most lavishly equipped divisions on the beach
The competition is limited to 40 teams total across all categories, which is why early registration is strongly encouraged. Once 40 teams are confirmed, registration closes, and teams arriving without prior signup will not be accommodated. Given the growing international profile of the event, the 40-team limit fills meaningfully earlier each season.
The Judging Criteria: What the Judges Are Looking For
Creative and Technical Excellence
The judging panel evaluates every entry across three specific criteria:
- Design and Use of Space: How effectively has the team used their 8-by-8-foot plot? Does the creation make intelligent use of the three-dimensional space available, and does the overall design show compositional awareness?
- Story or Creative Idea: Does the creation tell a story, embody a concept, or express a genuinely original idea? Entries that communicate a clear creative vision consistently score higher than technically accomplished but conceptually neutral work
- Technical Execution and Detail: How precisely and skillfully has the idea been executed? The quality of carving, the sharpness of edges, the consistency of surface treatment, and the level of fine detail all factor into this criterion
The three-criteria framework rewards genuine creativity at every skill level. A children's team that brings a vivid, joyfully expressed idea to life in their plot can outscore a technically superior adult team that lacks a compelling story. This philosophy keeps the competition genuinely open and genuinely surprising year after year.
Prize Structure: What Winners Take Home in 2026
Generous Awards for Every Category
The Bermuda Sandcastle Competition offers real, meaningful prizes across its categories, all fully sponsored by Bermudian businesses and institutions:
General Category Prizes (Adult, Family, Teenager, Company)
- 1st Place: $500 cash
- 2nd Place: $400 cash
- 3rd Place: $300 cash
Children's Category Prizes
Sponsored by Gorham's, offering gift cards in the amounts above to each winning team:
- 1st Place: $500 gift card
- 2nd Place: $400 gift card
- 3rd Place: $300 gift card
Visitor/Tourist Category Prizes
Generously sponsored by Hamilton Princess Hotel and Beach Club, Bermuda's most iconic luxury hotel:
- 1st Prize: Two-night stay in a Signature Room at Hamilton Princess and Beach Club
- 2nd Prize: 90-minute massage of your choice at Exhale Spa
- 3rd Prize: Champagne Brunch for two at Crown and Anchor
The visitor prizes are among the most generous in any comparable beach competition anywhere in the Atlantic island world. A two-night stay at Hamilton Princess, an iconic pink waterfront hotel opened in 1885 on the edge of Hamilton Harbour, carries a market value well in excess of USD $800 on summer weekend rates, making first place in the visitor category a genuinely extraordinary prize for an event that costs nothing to enter.
Complimentary Beverages for All Entrants
Refreshing Perks from Local Partners
Every registered competition team receives complimentary beverages throughout the competition day, provided through the long-standing partnership between the Bermuda Sandcastle Competition and John Barritt and Son, Bermuda's most established local beverage company and the producer of the island's beloved Barritt's Ginger Beer.
The Free Pre-Competition Workshops: Prepare Before the Big Day
Learn from the Best at Horseshoe Bay
One of the most thoughtful elements of the Bermuda Sandcastle Competition is the free workshop program offered in the week leading up to the event. Based on the 2025 schedule as a guide, workshops are typically held on the Saturday, Thursday, and Friday evenings before competition Sunday at Horseshoe Bay Beach, running from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The 2026 pre-competition workshops follow the same format: Hannah Emmerson leads practical instruction in sand sculpting technique, covering the fundamental methods that determine whether a sand structure stays solid through six hours of building or collapses before the judges arrive. Specifically, the workshops address:
- Water ratios: The critical relationship between sand moisture content and structural stability. Too little water and the sand crumbles. Too much and it slumps. Getting this ratio right is the single most important technical skill in competitive sand sculpting
- Compaction techniques: How to build a base mound that will support the weight of detailed upper structures without sinking or shifting over six hours
- Carving tools and methods: What basic household and purpose-made tools work best for different types of detail work, and how to use them to achieve clean edges and fine surface textures
- Structural planning: How to think about a design in three dimensions before you start building, avoiding the common beginner mistake of running out of sand or space before the design is complete
These workshops are open to anyone, registered competition teams or curious members of the public, and they take place at Horseshoe Bay Beach itself, meaning attendees get the added benefit of spending an evening on one of the world's most beautiful beaches while learning a genuine skill.
Horseshoe Bay Beach: The Stage That Steals the Show
Pink Sands and Natural Wonders
No article about the Bermuda Sandcastle Competition would be complete without doing justice to the venue. Horseshoe Bay Beach in Southampton Parish is consistently ranked among the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world by travel publications including Condé Nast Traveler, Travel and Leisure, and Lonely Planet, and the specific quality that gives it that international reputation is the pink sand.
"The pink sand creates a visual backdrop for the competition that simply cannot be replicated anywhere else on earth."
The pink coloration of Horseshoe Bay's sand comes from a genuinely rare geological process. The sand contains microscopic fragments of red foraminifera, single-celled marine organisms whose pink and red shells mix with the standard white calcium carbonate sand to produce the distinctive blush tone that photographs so spectacularly under Bermuda's clear summer light. On competition day, August 30, when 40 teams are actively sculpting across the beach and several hundred spectators are gathered around the plots, the pink sand creates a visual backdrop for the competition that simply cannot be replicated anywhere else on earth.
Beyond the color, Horseshoe Bay offers the practical qualities that make it a perfect competition venue. The beach is wide and deep enough to accommodate 40 plots of 8-by-8 feet with comfortable space between teams. The sheltered horseshoe shape of the cove provides protection from the Atlantic swell. And the beach facilities, including parking, a beach bar, and restroom facilities, make a full day on the sand from 9:30 a.m. to early evening genuinely comfortable.
Spectators: The Full Day Experience for Non-Competitors
Enjoy the Magic of Sand Sculpting
You do not need to enter the competition to have an extraordinary day at Horseshoe Bay on August 30, 2026. The competition is completely free to watch and the experience of walking among the building plots from 10:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m., watching designs emerge from mounds of pink sand over six hours, is one of the most genuinely entertaining and most photogenic ways to spend a day in Bermuda.
As a spectator, your August 30 itinerary might look something like this:
- Arrive at Horseshoe Bay by 10:00 a.m. as teams begin building to see the full creative process from its earliest stages
- Walk the entire plot area and identify the teams whose designs are most ambitious or most surprising early in the build
- Return at intervals throughout the day to track the progress of your favourite builds as designs take shape
- Spend time on the beach itself, which remains accessible to non-competition visitors throughout the day
- Be at the main tent for 4:00 p.m. when all tools go down and judging begins, since the moment of judging is one of the most charged and most communal hours of the entire event
- Stay for prize giving, which typically concludes by early evening and is worth witnessing for the genuine celebration that each category winner produces
Travel Tips for the 2026 Bermuda Sandcastle Competition
Make the Most of Your Visit
- Register your team as early as possible at sandcastle.bm. The 40-team limit is a real constraint and popular categories fill quickly after registration opens in summer 2026
- Teams in the visitor/tourist category should note that the Hamilton Princess Hotel and Beach Club prizes are among the most valuable in the competition. First place is literally a free hotel stay. The barrier to entry is zero. The potential return is significant
- Attend at least one free pre-competition workshop in the evenings before August 30. The practical technique knowledge from even a single 2-hour session meaningfully improves your team's final result
- Horseshoe Bay is located in Southampton Parish on the south shore of Bermuda. From Hamilton, it is accessible by the Number 7 bus (Pink route) which runs directly from Hamilton's bus terminal to the Horseshoe Bay Beach stop
- Bring your own sunscreen (reef-safe varieties are encouraged at Horseshoe Bay), towels, and water for the full day. The beach bar and food vendors at Horseshoe Bay are operational on competition day but lines can be long during peak hours
- L.F. Wade International Airport (BDA) in St. George's is approximately 45 minutes from Horseshoe Bay by taxi or bus
- Labour Day weekend in late August is one of Bermuda's busiest travel windows. Book accommodation at least six to eight weeks in advance for the August 30 date
Frequently Asked Questions
The Things People Always Want to Know
When is the Bermuda Sandcastle Competition 2026?
The competition takes place on Sunday, August 30, 2026 at Horseshoe Bay Beach, Southampton Parish, Bermuda. Building runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with check-in from 9:30 a.m.
Is the Bermuda Sandcastle Competition free to enter and attend?
Yes. Entry is completely free for all teams and spectating is free for all visitors. Registered teams also receive complimentary beverages on competition day courtesy of John Barritt and Son.
How do I register for the 2026 Bermuda Sandcastle Competition?
Register at sandcastle.bm. Early registration is strongly encouraged as the competition is limited to 40 teams total across all categories.
What are the competition categories for 2026?
Categories are Children (under 12), Teenagers, Family, Adults, Visitor/Tourist, and Companies. Teams consist of up to six people per entry.
What prizes are awarded at the Bermuda Sandcastle Competition?
Cash prizes of $500, $400, and $300 are awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in general categories. The tourist/visitor category is sponsored by Hamilton Princess Hotel and Beach Club, with prizes including a two-night hotel stay, a spa massage, and a champagne brunch.
Where are the pre-competition workshops held and are they free?
Pre-competition workshops are held at Horseshoe Bay Beach in the evenings of the week before the competition, running from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. They are completely free and open to participants and the public.
Verified Information at a Glance
- Event Name: Bermuda Sandcastle Competition 2026
- Category: Beach Competition / Cultural Festival / Community Event / Family Event
- Date: Sunday, August 30, 2026 (Labour Day Weekend)
- Venue: Horseshoe Bay Beach, Southampton Parish, Bermuda
- Check-In: 9:30 a.m. to noon
- Building Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
- Judging: From 4:00 p.m.
- Entry Fee: Free
- Spectator Admission: Free
- Team Size: Up to 6 people per team
- Plot Size: 8 feet by 8 feet per team
- Team Limit: 40 teams total (register early)
- Categories: Children (under 12), Teenagers, Family, Adults, Visitor/Tourist, Companies
- Judging Criteria: Design and use of space, story or creative idea, technical execution and detail
- Cash Prizes: 1st $500, 2nd $400, 3rd $300 (general categories)
- Visitor Prizes (Hamilton Princess sponsored): 1st two-night hotel stay, 2nd spa massage, 3rd champagne brunch
- Children's Prizes: Gorham's gift cards ($500, $400, $300)
- Complimentary Beverages: Provided to all registered teams by John Barritt and Son
- Pre-Competition Workshops: Free, evenings before competition day, Horseshoe Bay Beach, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- Organizer: Hannah Emmerson / Bermuda Sandcastle Competition
- Founded: 1995 by Nicky Gurret
- Official Website: sandcastle.bm
- Instagram: @bermudasandcastle
- Nearest Airport: L.F. Wade International Airport (BDA), St. George's, approximately 45 minutes from Horseshoe Bay
- Bus Route: Number 7 (Pink route) from Hamilton Bus Terminal to Horseshoe Bay Beach
- Best For: Families, children, tourists, corporate teams, beach lovers, creative travelers, photographers
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