Hampton Beach Sand Sculptor Wins World Title

Many contestants in the annual Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Competition warm up during the weeks before the festivities by adorning neighboring beaches, communities and states with non-competitive, contracted masterpieces.

Karen Fralich's "warm up" was a little different, though, for this week's competition, according to Hampton Beach Village District Precinct Commissioner Maureen Buckley. Fralich, an Ontario, Canada, native who took fourth place at last year's Hampton Beach contest, will hit the New Hampshire sand Thursday as the 2013 World Champion of Sand Sculpting after capturing first place Sunday at the world championships in Atlantic City, N.J.

"This means a lot, I'm still in shock right now," Karen Fralich reportedly told New Jersey's NBC 40. "I'm kind of at a loss for words. Just amazing, it's an honor, what else can I say?"

More details about this week's Hampton Beach competition, the sponsor sculpture for which is already underway, can be found here.