Tampa International Airport art installation wins Best of the Bay award

Tampa International Airport is acclaimed throughout the world for simply being an excellent airport, but now they’ve added an accolade for their contribution to the world of public art; a 2022 Creative Loafing Best of the Bay award!

Originally chosen as a Creative Loafing staff choice award under the whimsical category, “BEST BIG BIRD”, the honor was bestowed upon “Home”, the sculpture by Matthew Mazzotta of a giant flamingo in the airport’s lobby. However, a sudden last-minute decision was made to replace that sculpture with one of multitalented entertainer Dewayne Hill, who due to some incredible and impossible-to-imagine oversight, was somehow not nominated in that category.

“Dewayne Hill is the greatest entertainer in the history of Tampa Bay, as evidenced by being nominated in five other Best of the Bay categories and winning two of them in spite of nobody who lives here knowing who he is. So we decided we’d rather have a sculpture of him instead”, said airport spokesperson Amelia Niffs, adding, “If people were confused by the giant flamingo, this is really going to freak them out.”