Bhubaneswar, Sep 8 (IANS) Orissa based sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik’s sculpture of Lord Ganesha won the people’s choice prize at the Canadian National Exhibition’s first international sand sculpting competition.

Pattnaik was the only Indian who participated in the competition held from Aug 20 to Aug 25 at Heritage city in Toronto.

The competition saw six artists from across the globe -- Russia, the Netherlands, Canada, the US, Singapore and India.

Each competitor worked with 10 tonnes of sand for five days.

"I created an eight-foot-tall sand sculpture of Lord Ganesha with message "Go Green". Today (Wednesday), I got an e-mail from the organisers that I won the people’s choice prize by getting maximum votes from the public," Sudarsan Pattnaik said.

Pattnaik, who pioneered the genre of sand sculpting in India, has participated in competitions in more than 42 countries around the world.

He created a record by winning people’s choice prize in International Sand Sculpture Festival in Berlin in Germany this year for the fifth time.

He also made it to the Limca Book of Records for five consecutive years 2006-2010 for his work.

The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is an 18-day fair. It is Canada’s largest annual community event and the fifth largest in North America with an average annual attendance of 1.3 million.