Calling All LEGO Builders

The holiday kingdom is a world built from imagination. How do you imagine it?
    Is the holiday kingdom your church on Christmas Eve? Or your home on Christmas morning?
    Or is Chanukah your holiday, and your menorah an eight-branched tree with every branch tipped with flame?
    Or Kwanza, with dancing and drums?
    Add LEGOS to your imagination and build the holiday kingdom as you see it.
    In the Greater Annapolis Lego Open competition, your creation can win prizes, ranging from $10 to $250 gift certificates. All constructions go on display for all to see in the Main Street storefront windows of the Maryland State Education Association, starting December 22.
    “It’s fascinating how the children have thought through in such depth things that can only be imagined, down to the tiniest of pieces, how they interpret forms and convert them to LEGO block form,” say Wayne Speight, the architect brain behind the competition.
    Builders compete in three age groups: 3 to 6 years; 7 to 11 years; and 12 to 16 years. Build on a LEGO base plate within a space no bigger than 16-by-16-by-16-inches. Use as many blocks and spare parts as you like to construct your holiday scene, but no assembled kits.
    Find rules, entry forms and pictures of last year’s entries at speightstudio.com.
    Deliver your construction by December 19 to Speight Studio Architects, 540 B&A Blvd., Suite B, Severna Park; or to the Maryland State Education Association, 140 Main St., Annapolis.
    Winners announced December 21, with a celebratory party December 22 for all builders at Maryland State Education Association.