MASQUERADE: (Clockwise from top left) Ruben
Santana’s mask won the best Coney Island
mask award. Melissa Lawson’s “MerMay
Queen!” mask won the award for best mask.
Suzie Sims-Fletcher’s hot-dog mask won the
People’s Choice award. Anthony Whitaker’s
mask recalls his experience as a 9/11 fi rst
responder. Jennifer Erin Taves came in third
place in the Mask Makers’ Choice category.
COURIER LIFE, JUNE 12-18, 2020 27
OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
BY ROSE ADAMS
Organizers of Coney Island’s beloved
Mermaid Parade announced the
winners of their premiere face mask
design contest on June 8 — wrapping
up an online competition that
solicited photos of artful, handmade
masks from across the country.
“It was a light in the darkness. For
the people who participated, it turned
into a community,” said Mark Alhadeff,
a board member of the non-profi t
arts organization Coney Island USA,
which hosted the Put on a Funny Face
Mask Design Contest. “It was truly remarkable.”
Thousands of people tuned into the
“Maskies” — the competition’s awards
ceremony broadcasted Monday night
on YouTube — during which hosts unveiled
the winners of every category,
including best overall mask, best Coney
Island-themed mask, best sea creature
mask, best historical mask, and
best New York-themed mask, among
others.
The prize for best mask went to
Melissa Lawson from Queens for her
elaborate, fl owery hat and face covering.
Lawson’s work won over a panel
of judges that included Coney Island’s
permanently unelected mayor, Dick
Zigun, actress Annabella Sciorra, and
Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus.
The People’s Choice Award went
to “HOT DOG! Face Mask” by Queens
resident Suzie Sims-Fletcher, who
garnered upwards of 500 votes of the
more than 5,000 votes cast, Alhadeff
said.
“She was the most enthusiastic
contestant in the contest,” he said,
noting that Sims-Fletcher submitted
several entries and has worked tirelessly
to produce masks for hospitals
throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She did this as a break from making
hundreds if not thousands of masks.”
The award for the best Coney Island
themed mask went to Bronx resident
Ruben Santana, whose mask
paid homage to fi rst responders and
Coney Island businesses, he said.
Other winners included New
Yorker Debra Scotti, whose mask won
the “Mermaid/Neptune” award for
best sea creature-themed mask, and
Anthony Whitaker, a 9/11 fi rst responder
whose mask, which reads “I
am steel standing,” was dubbed best
historical mask.
“We imagined it was going to be
creative, it ended up being so much
more,” Alhadef said.
Photo by Melissa Lawson
Ruben Santana
Anthony Whitaker Suzie Sims-Fletcher
Amazing coverage!
Coney Island face mask contest shows off its winners
Jennifer Erin Taves