Manhattan Beach's Roundhouse Aquarium has announced a “Sunsational Sandcastle” sandcastle building contest designed to raise funds to support the aquarium’s marine science education programs.

The Oceanographic Teaching Stations, Inc. (OTS), the non-profit that manages and operates the Roundhouse Aquarium, will host the contest in honor of World Oceans Day. Sponsored by Chevron Corporation, the Port of Long Beach, Bayview Pediatric Dental Group and the Langlois family, the contest invites people from across the United States and around the world to create their sandcastles wherever they are with any type of sand or soil they have access to.

Winners will be determined by online voting that will take place between July 9 and July 18. (A donation of $10 is requested to cast a vote.) The entries that garner the most votes for each of the following categories will win a prize:

“2021 presents hope and a return to normalcy, and we wanted to find a safe way to celebrate World Oceans Day and the onset of summer where the community could also come together to support the Roundhouse Aquarium,” said Grace Adams, OTS executive director. “We hope to be able to continue and expand our education programs on ocean science during 2021 and beyond. 

Adams continued: "We need the community’s help to ensure that programs that inspire people of all ages to care for the oceans, tidelands and beaches continue. OTS served more than 25,000 K-college students from southern California and even students in New York, Nevada and India during the extraordinary circumstances of 2020. There is a continued need for our programs, whether they are in-person or virtual. We certainly hope to welcome everyone back to the Roundhouse, now that our doors are open to the public, and continue to engage students and our community through our distance learning initiatives and hopefully with in-person programs soon."

The Roundhouse Aquarium is currently open to the public by reservation only.