A TURTLE, a mother white whale and her calf and an underwater reef scene, were just some of the creations resulting from Saturday's Regatta Waters sand sculpting competition in Airlie Beach.

There were nine entrants in this year's event, judged by the Whitsunday Reef Festival's committee member Lisa Stockow and artist in residence Boyd Ashton.

Mr Ashton said judging each of the three categories - family, technical and under 12's - was very difficult because "everyone had different qualities".

"And they were all very imaginative," he said.

The winners of the technical category were brothers Jaspa and Zander Hope, aged 12 and eight, who impressed the judges with their sculpting ability in creating the two white whales.

The boys' mum Tara Hope, said they chose to sculpt the whales because they thought it was the perfect way "to showcase what lives in our waters".

"Whales are such beautiful, majestic creatures and they'll be swimming in our waters right now so it's very fitting," she said.

Regatta Waters representative Steve Marks, was meant to be a bystander at the event, but competed in the family category at the insistence of his sons, Alex, 5 and Jacob, 9.

Mr Marks said 'Team Jacob' had a ball and he praised the Reef Festival committee for organising the event.

"I've got to say, the people on the Reef Festival committee have done so much work and all unpaid, so a big thanks to those guys - the whole thing, from the sand sculpting to the family fun day, was just flawless," he said.