Several young Russian artists received awards on Tuesday for sculptures they created out of sand.

Their work was all created over the last seven days and is on display at the Sand Sculptures Festival in the Kolomenskoye Park area in Moscow.

The festival was organized to inspire young Russian artists to try their hand at sand sculpting. A masterclass with well known sculptors from different countries was held several weeks ago to give the competition entrants some inspiration.

Many of those honored on Tuesday had never worked with sand before.

Sculptor Sergey Knyish said, "I was working with this material for the first time. I have experience in various areas like snow and ice. And now I'm learning to work with sand. I like it because the sand is a very good material, very easy to work with. You can do anything you want."

Festival organizer Pavel Zadanyuk said, "This sand is special. We chose it from twenty types of different sand, and we travelled throughout the Moscow region in search of it. This sand has a certain percentage of clay, and it has a very good and deep color."

Judging by the influx of visitors since the exhibition opened, many spectators have enjoyed the show as much as the artists enjoyed creating their sculptures.