By: Marenda Escobar

Students in our community have outdone themselves in this year’s Fresh New Kicks design-a-shoe contest! This year, the St. Joe County Public Library received 567 design submissions, including submissions from entire classes at Corpus Christi Catholic School, Navarre Middle School and Monroe Elementary from the South Bend Community School Corporation.

For those who don’t know, Fresh New Kicks is a competition where kids and teens are invited to create their own shoe designs for a chance to win one of nine prizes. The concept is simple; students choose from a blank shoe template where they can draw and color in an original design before submitting to the Library, where a team of judges will carefully review and select finalists, winners and runner ups for three age groups: Grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. 

Melody Lutz, the Library’s Education and Programming Manager, organized the 2023 Fresh New Kicks competition. Reflecting on this year’s entries, she explains,“We are so excited to share the creativity of our young patrons with the rest of our community. Their designs are expressive, innovative, and convey unique points of view. Trends include nature scenes; bold, colorful prints; and depictions of various fandoms, including popular television shows such as Wednesday, classic horror movies such as American Psycho, and cartoons and anime such as Naruto.”

“Our judges were so impressed by the volume of submissions and the tremendous talent of the artists who submitted! We would like to thank all of the artists who participated, and the teachers and parents who encouraged them to express their unique style through art.” 

Creativity and self-expression have always been at the heart of the design-a-shoe contest. Last week, Library judges thoughtfully selected entries based on both originality and artistic ability. It’s no doubt that this year, many students met this challenge. 

With this being said, the Library is proud to announce the 2023 Fresh New Kicks winners: 

Grades 3-5
Winner: Jaz’marie Griffin, “Rainbow Galaxy” 
Runner up: Liv DeFauw, “High Flyer” 
Runner up: Josie Michalak, “A Sunday Sundae” 

Grades 6-8
Winner: Madeline Arashio, “Gazing upon the Sun”
Runner up: Klaire Kemp, “Howling Wolf at Midnight” 
Runner up: Logan Sypel, “Donut Party”

Grades 9-12
Winner: Kristin Guse, “Blow Away Your Troubles” 
Runner up: Gianfranco Miller, “Light in the Dark” 
Runner up: Jillian Minnes, “The Bateman” 

These nine winners will receive Kohl’s gift cards, $50 for winners, and $25 for runner ups. Check out their designs below!

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Grades 3-5

Grades 6-8

Grades 9-12

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Want to see more creative entries? 150 total finalists will be on display in Main Library’s smART box beginning Monday, March 27 through April 9. We hope you’ll come visit.

The Library supports creative expression and artistic ability year-round. This spring, we invite you to express your creative voice at our all-ages Spill the Ink Poetry Contest. 

Think about the shoes you wanted most as a kid. Perhaps they were a crisp new set of red Chuck Taylors. Or maybe you wanted to sport checkered Vans in your favorite color. What we wear is a form of self-expression. Even classic pieces can be styled and designed to fit individual tastes. And who doesn’t want to be original (Vans, n.d.)? This winter, kids and teens are invited to create their own designs in the Library’s 2023 Fresh New Kicks competition for a chance to win one of nine prizes. The concept is simple. Kids and teens can choose from blank shoe templates to draw and color in original designs of their choosing and submit their entries by February 10, 2023. 

The Fresh New Kicks contest has been kicking for a couple years. Like many creative endeavors, this concept came about during the pandemic. Introduced by the Library’s very own Theresa Horn and Missy Maeyens, the contest was first conducted online in the winter of 2021. With so many entries, the contest returned the next winter and submissions were displayed near the Teen Room at Main Library so all could enjoy the fresh new kicks. Mel Lutz, Youth Programming Specialist, noticed how much effort kids and teens would put into their designs. Wanting to give recognition to a broad range of artists, she created a special slideshow to recognize all finalists in the competition as well as the three winners. 

Self-expression is the inspiration for Fresh New Kicks, says Mel Lutz, who now oversees the competition. She hopes the contest will give kids and teens the opportunity to share their own unique style. Indeed, there is so much creativity that our community’s kids and teens have to offer. Last winter’s designs included a variety of colorful entries, with design concepts that included blooming cacti, desserts and fruits, a wide-eyed goldfish, math symbols, and tributes to beloved characters. In addition to promoting creativity, the contest also serves as an opportunity to connect school-aged kids to their local library. Four different schools have made class-wide submissions to Fresh New Kicks, including Dickinson Fine Arts Academy, Harrison, Monroe, and North Liberty Elementary in previous years.

This winter, kids and teens in grades 3-12 are once again encouraged to express their creativity and unique style, designing on either a high-top canvas sneaker, a lace-up combat boot, or a slip-on shoe.  The Library is excited to be awarding a total of nine prizes to the young designers in 2023. Prizes will be distributed among the three age groups (grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) and include three $50 gift cards for each age group’s winner, and six $25 gift cards for two runner ups from each age group. Fresh New Kicks submissions are accepted from January 13 through February 10, 2023.