A total of 36 teams representing 33 schools competed in Friday’s Help-a-Child Build-Off contest, held in the parking lot of Gerald Prim Stadium in Sulphur Springs.
The teams’ assignment was to build a chimenea, using pre-cut metal panels. The finished projects were judged on the quality of the welds, fit of the panels and whether or not the projects were ready to be painted.
Judges Roger Claxton and Mike Giles told the crowd they had a difficult time selecting the top 10 —so difficult, in fact, that they chose the top 11, because they were unable to find anything to separate the entries from Teams 10, Rains High School, and 11, Boles High School.
Other schools that earned places in the top 11 included: Greenville High School (9th); Cumby Collegiate High School (8th); Sulphur Springs High School (7th); Troup High School (6th); Hallsville High School (5th); and Timpson High School (4th).
Runners-up included Sulphur Bluff, who took home third place; Bland High School, who earned the Reserve Grand Champion title.
The winning team was Celina High School.
The top three teams’ projects were auctioned off Saturday morning during the Help-A-Child Benefit on the Hopkins County Civic Center grounds. Proceeds benefitted the North East Texas Child Advocacy Center and Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, as well as local foster families and Masonic Lodge scholarship programs. This year’s Build-Off competition was the second annual event, and the 16th year for the benefit event.