Arts & Entertainment

Norwalk Aquarium's Lighthouse Contest Deadline Looms

Enter for the prize money or enter for the sake of art. If you're crafty and if you love Long Island Sound, consider entering the Aquarium's annual lighthouse contest.

Time is running out to place an entry in The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk’s 12th annual “Festival of Lighthouses Contest,” which awards an Aquarium Family Membership for each displayed lighthouse and $3,300 in prizes, including $1,500 for first place.

A limited number of spaces remain. Entry forms are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis, but the deadline is Friday, Oct. 25. (After 24 entries are received, all subsequent entrants will be placed on a waiting list.)

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The special exhibit will place up to 24 large model lighthouses in the Aquarium during the holiday season and beyond: Nov. 16, 2013, through Jan. 20, 2014.  

Aquarium visitors will follow these hand-crafted beacons through the galleries and then cast a vote for their favorite.

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The builder of the lighthouse with the most votes will receive $1,500 at an awards ceremony on Jan. 23.  Other prizes to be awarded are: $750 for second, $375 for third; $300 for fourth; $225 for fifth; and $150 for sixth.

It’s free to enter, but you must be at least 14 years old. One Aquarium Family Membership  — worth $150 — is presented for each exhibited lighthouse.

To qualify, lighthouses must be 3 to 6 feet tall and have a working light — beyond that, it’s up to the creators’ imaginations.  Previous years’ entries have been crafted out of about every material imaginable, from the expected — wood, metal, stone, papier mache, plastic and glass — to the unexpected — paper, string, sea glass, candy, furnace filters, trash and even paper clips.  (Prohibited are animal remains, including shells.)

Many past entries have been closely modeled after real lighthouses. But others have ranged from the highly artistic to the comically imaginative to the puzzlingly abstract.

Lighthouses must be delivered to the Aquarium between Nov. 8 and 11.

An entry form and the official rules are available in the exhibits section of the Aquarium's website Or for more details, call The Maritime Aquarium at (203) 852-0700, ext. 2248.


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