Summit Township artist Bill Secunda stands in Grand Rapids, Mich., with his life-size sculpture "Moose," which captured fifth place in the national ArtPrize competition. The sculpture weighs 1,200 pounds and is made of nails.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Butler County man nailed down the competition in a national art contest here.

The winners of ArtPrize were announced Thursday and Bill Secunda of Summit Township took fifth place with a life-size sculpture of a moose made of 1,200 pounds of welded steel nails.

"Are you kidding me? It's the world's largest art prize. We were thrilled," Secunda said this morning from Grand Rapids about being in the competition and placing fifth.

He said he was at the ceremony when winners were announced. Afterward, he said, there was a celebration for the top 10 winners.

"It was one big party," Secunda said.

He brings home $7,000.

"I guess I'll start building next year's project," he said of what he may do with his winnings.

The top winners competed for one of the world's largest art prizes: $250,000 for first place. There were 1,262 entries competing. The public voted for 10 finalists after the first week and then voted for their favorites among the finalists to determine the winners.

A $100,000 prize was given for second place, $50,000 for third and $7,000 for each artist who finished fourth through 10th.

Entries will remain on display until Saturday throughout downtown Grand Rapids. The top four winners are:

• 1st: Ran Ortner, Brooklyn, N.Y. "Open Water No. 24" is a lifelike, 19-foot-wide oil painting on canvas depicting the swelling surface of a body of water.

• 2nd: Tracy Van Duinen, Chicago. "Imagine That!" is a large, colorful mural made from a variety of tiles.

• 3rd: Eric Daigh, Traverse City, Mich. "Portraits" is a series of 4 foot by 6 foot portraits, each fashioned from thousands of pushpins.

• 4th: David Lubbers, Grand Rapids, Mich. "The Grand Dance" is an abstract metal sculpture resembling a school of fish that moves in the wind and is installed on a small island in the Grand River.

Secunda, who began his career creating larger-than-life bugs and alien-like sculptures, now crafts lifelike animal creations, which he sells to fine art buyers across the United States.

The former Pullman welder lives with his wife, Chris, and has three daughters. More information is available at Chris Secunda's Web site, www.weldart.com.

Eagle staff writer Megan Duncan contributed to this report.