PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Owen Burgess can take a box of blocks and turn them into anything from magical trees to dinosaurs. 

 

That skill won him a spot in the finals of Legoland New York's first Junior Master Model Builder Competition this past weekend.

 

"I'm excited because I'm actually one of the top five people at Lego building. I'm not just one plain Lego builder," the 11-year-old said. 

 

The competition received hundreds of photo submissions from Lego enthusiasts eager to participate in the competition  as part of the opening weekend festivities of the seasonal resort in Goshen. 

 

Owen built a village in a big tree that was being protected by a wizard who bravely battled a monster.

 

He and the other finalists — Gabriel, Ava, Hunter and Emily — were chosen based on creativity, technique, originality, and story of the builds they submitted, said Matt Besterman, public relations manager for the resort.

 

"Owen's build excelled in all these areas — especially story," Besterman said in an email. 

 

The judges were Season 3 Lego Master winners Stacey Roy and Nick Della Mora, whose winning "Imagination Bookshelf" will now be on display at Legoland.

 

The contestants, all ages 8 to 12, had one hour to build their vision of "A Boatland of Awesome" that had to include the hull of a ship, a surprise Lego Minifigure that had to fit into the theme and a storyline of sailing to Legoland. Owen's build had a character "Tommy Rex" who sits atop a red pteradactyl on a giant dinosaur boat, looking for the seven funders of the world. 

 

"Season 3 Lego Masters winners Nick and Stacey and the Master Model Builders of Legoland New York Resort were impressed with Owen's creative use of bricks to create the illusion of floating Minifigures and 'forest magic,'" Besterman said. "We were particularly impressed that each Minifigure in the build tells its own story. His build pulled every element together."

 

Roy said during the livestreamed contest that she thought it was cool how Owen incorporated his character right into the build. 

 

But it wasn't enough to top the competition. Della Mora and Roy selected contestant Ava's "Glitter Cannon 9" as the winner of the first Junior Master Builder Competition. 

 

Owen said it was really fun to build with Lego bricks because you can build anything that would cost a lot of money to do in real life.

 

He has been building with Lego bricks for as long as he can remember. His mother, Angie Burgess, noted that although they had the large building blocks made for infants Owen gravitated toward the smaller blocks. 

 

Keeping a close eye on him, Burgess let him play with the smaller bricks and he learned quickly that as long as he didn't put them in his mouth they would not be taken away. 

 

Now Owen's home is filled with countless Lego bricks that fill numerous boxes and drawers in his home. He's homeschooled so he has more free time to focus on exploring and creating, and be creative with his time and resources, Burgess said.

 

Lego building is "so deeply a part of who he is because he's been doing it since before he could remember," Burgess said. "So truly, Lego is one of his languages and ways that he processes things. In ways that he doesn't even realize right now because it's so deeply a part of who he is."

 

Before announcing the winner on Saturday, Roy said it was "the hardest decision I've ever made in my entire life, because we were so impressed with all of the builds ...

 

"I just want to say, everyone that's up here competing, they're all winners. They came up against so many kids across America and they did such a fantastic job."

 

Owen was thrilled at the chance to compete and said he had been looking forward to spending the day at Legoland.