South Dakota’s Parker High School Selected Among 3,000 Entrants for $50,000 Grand Prize

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Parker, South Dakota’s Parker High School has been named as the grand prize winner of the eighth annual Vans Custom Culture art competition. Vans and program partners—Americans for the Arts, Laguna College of Art + Design (LCAD), Blick Art Materials and Journeys—awarded $50,000 toward the school’s arts education program. The remaining four finalists each were awarded $4,000 to support their arts program.

Vans hosted the top five final high schools on an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for a week-long schedule of activities and celebration. Influential judges including creative consultant and designer Jayne Min, pro-surfer Leila Hurst, pro-skater Lizzie Armanto, Vans Director of Footwear Color and Trend Rian Pozzebon, as well as special musical guest Daya, selected the winning custom shoe designs among the talented group of art students. The event was live streamed on Facebook so families and fellow classmates across the country could join in on the celebration.

Since its inception, Vans Custom Culture has awarded hundreds of thousands in monetary donations to support art education in schools across the nation, empowering creativity through art and design. 3,000 high schools registered for this year's competition and were challenged to design four pairs of blank canvas Vans shoes to personify the Vans "Off the Wall" lifestyle: action sports, art, music and local flavor.