KANSAS CITY, Mo.-The 39th annual National Masonry Contest was held in conjunction with the SkillsUSA/VICA National Championships recently. Forty four young contestants from across the country, each of them winners of their own state or regionall competition, worked six hours to build their composite masonry projects. The winners of the post secondary competition were Michael Pickels form Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades in Media, Penn., who took first place; Second place went to Luke Balsingh from PTEC Saint Petersburg Campus in St. Petersburg, Fla.; and Justin Ries from Kirkwood Community College in Cedar rapids, Iowa took third. The high school winners were Cody Alward from Mount Pleasant High School in Mount Pleasant, NC; Second place went to Andrew Miller from Earnest Pruett Center of Technology in Hollywood, Ala.; and Nathan Price from Central Eastmoreland AVTS in New Scranton, Pa., finished third. A $1,500 scholarship was awarded to the schools of the first place winners by SpecMix, Inc. In addition, first place winners Pickels and Alward each won a Bon Tool tool set, a Marshalltown Trowel tool set, a Dell laptop computer provided by Skills USA Masonry Technical Committee, a jacket from Carhartt, and a Crick level.