Mark Anderson of the United Kingdom. Arguably that countries finest sand sculptor. He is also one of the three field engineers for pre show pound-ups

Lars Borst, a brilliant Dutch carver of high renown. Very able and a lot of fun to be around. He is the only FNG on this years roster.

Katsuhihu Chaen of Japan. A quiet and humble man with a large stock of talent.

Alexie Diakov. One third of the New Russian Syndicate, he is one of the industries up and coming hot young guns.

Damon Farmer, USA. The one person most responsible for the overall look and feel of the show by virtue of his position as Chief Conceptual Designer.

John Gowdy also of the USA makes his fifth showing in Italy,  and is also one of the field engineers for pre show pound-ups.

Vladimir Kuraev is the leader of the New Russian Syndicate and a professor of art at Moscow University. He brought his family along with him.

Sergi Ramirez of Spain is probably the fastest carver on the crew. From a strong background in soft sculpture sketching, he has more work represented around the show than anyone else.

  Rich Varano (yours truly) USA, is the event director and owner of the company:  Sultans Of Sand Worldwide. He is the third field engineer and is happy to say that all the carvers he works with are friends as well as associates.

Radek Zivney of the Czech Republic is also one of the fastest carvers and most luminous stars in terms of raw talent working in sand today. His future is very bright.

Four of the six art student helpers from the Academy of Art in Venice.