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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JUNE 14, 2020
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.
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 nonprofit
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 Yorkthemed
mask, among others.
The prize for best mask
went to Melissa Lawson from
Queens for her elaborate, f lowery
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 got 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 first 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
first 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
Amazing coverage!
Jennifer Erin Taves Ruben Santana
Anthony Whitaker Suzie Sims-Fletcher
Coney Island face mask contest shows off its winners