2025 Contest Winners Announced
KC IMAGINE announced the winners of the visual identity challenge for its 2025 Digital Media Academy Career Conference on October 7, 2025 at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center.
The winners of the design contest are Caleb Hayes, Prachi Kalirai, McKinley Kendall and Payton Speciale from the CAPS program at the Cedar Trails Exploration Center (CTEC) in Lenexa, Kansas. The team submitted their entry as a project in Travis Kohler’s Graphic Design class. They won the competition with their entry that featured gear icons, colorful graphics and the theme “Media Careers that Matter.”
CTEC CAPS’ winning team members receive the $250 award check sponsored by the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI). Left to right: Travis Kohler (Instructor), Payton Speciale, McKinley Kendall, Prachi Kalirai, Caleb Hayes.
The contest was open to high school digital media academies throughout the Kansas City region. Entrants were asked to design a branding and visual identity solution for the conference which will be held on October 7, 2025 at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center. The winning designs will be used in all print and web-based publications related to the upcoming conference. This includes flyers, banners, logos, presentation decks and speaker cards.
The winning team was awarded a check for $250 sponsored by the Kansas City Arts Institute. “The Kansas City Art Institute is proud to work with KC IMAGINE in preparing young people for careers in the expanding field of digital media. As sponsors of the design competition for their 2025 Digital Media Career Conference, we were excited to see all of the amazing entries submitted. We felt the winning entry had a crisp, bold and bright design that was both eye-catching and easy to read," said Randy Williams, Associate Vice President of Corporate and Community Partnerships.
Ron Green, Executive Director of KC IMAGINE, announced the winners of the contest at the CTEC CAPS Center in Lenexa on May 6th. Tim Mispagel, CAPS Administrator and Teacher at CTEC, commented that “Real world learning opportunities like the design challenge from KC IMAGINE are invaluable for our students. They pose challenges that invoke a different level of thoughtfulness that is difficult to simulate in the traditional educational environment. When the students know there is an actual audience or client on the receiving end of their designs, they tend to take more risks throughout their ideation process. This inevitably leads to more innovative design work. Thank you to KC IMAGINE for inspiring our students to rise to the challenge.”
The team’s instructor, Travis Kohler remarked that “students were highly engaged and motivated throughout the challenge. Many expressed pride in their work and enjoyed the chance to showcase their ideas to a wider audience.” The winning team will also be recognized during the opening session of the conference on October 7th. The conference is produced by KC IMAGINE and KC Digital Drive.