Announcing the North Woodside Snow Art Awards of 2026!

After traipsing far and wide–over ice and salt and mountains of Bobcat-piled “snowcrete”–an impressive array of frontyard igloos, snow people, and icy sculptures have been found and nominated. A couple backyard igloos were nominated as well.

And now, without further ado…drum roll…we present the North Woodside Snow Art Award winners of 2026! (Click on a photo to view larger and scroll through.)

Meet some of the young artists behind the cool creations:

Indeed, they put in many hours of work–days, in some cases–to complete these impressive abodes. Luckily, with school out for over a week and nine days straight of chilly temps, they had plenty of time on their hands!

Judge’s Note: The January 25 storm’s particular makeup of icy precipitation–powdery snow followed by several inches of sleet–has enabled a usually-rare-around-here form of snow art involving creative stacking and placement of “sleet blocks,” distinctive for its angularity. Who knows if we’ll have such awesome igloo-building conditions ever again? And commendations for the creative use of tools (garden shovels, propane blow torch, boxes, bucket, and more) and materials (branches, wood planks, backyard patio items) to construct a number of the snow art winners.

See how how a team of high school artists constructed the “Best Window” winner, sleet block by sleet block:

How long will these icy creations be around? Temperatures and sunlight will determine. And time will tell. If Punxsutawney Phil is correct, could be a while.

Which igloo will last the longest? What’s your guess?