Vans Names Tennessee High School the Winner in its Custom Culture Competition

Fashion

The winning shoes

The winning shoes

As of Thursday, May 2, 2019

Drum roll, please. After much stiff competition from various high school art students around the country, Vans chose the winner of its 2018 Custom Culture Competition.

The first-place prize went to Hixson High School in Hixson, Tenn. To say the students were ecstatic is an understatement. Vans representatives, including Steve Van Doren, the son of Vans' founder, showed up at the high school on Thursday in a van filled with gifts and hosted a BBQ.

The competition asks high school art students to take two pairs of blank Vans shoes and create a design that goes with the competition's theme. This year the themes were "Local Flavor" and "Off the Wall."

For the Local Flavor portion, Hixson's student highlighted local symbols and sights around the Chattanooga area. For the Off the Wall section, art students put the shoes on a platform and created a cavern underneath, which was lit by fairy lights, moss and other decorations.

While Hixson won the top prize, the other high-school finalists will receive $10,000 for their schools' arts program. The finalists were: Fontainebleau High School in Louisiana; Larned High School in Kansas; Middle Township High School in New Jersey; and Moanalua High School in Hawaii.