Puro San Antonio shoe designs earn Edison High School $15,000 for its art program in Vans contest

An Edison High School team may not have seized the top prize in this year’s Vans Custom Culture art contest, but they still earned a fat chunk of cash for their school’s art program.

The Golden Bears’ puro San Antonio designs were named as a runner-up in the shoe brand’s annual competition, ranking among the top five student-created designs in the country and pulling in $15,000 for their program.

One of the Edison entries featured images of iconic downtown landmarks like the Alamo and the River Walk, while the other was decorated with three-dimensional pan dulce.

Those creations beat out designs from more than a thousand other U.S. high schools to make it to the final round, in which five vied for a $50,000 grand prize.

In a live award ceremony Thursday, artist and Vans collaborator Kelly Breez awarded Fontainebleau High School from Mandeville, Louisiana the top prize.

The remaining finalists, including Edison, each landed $15,000.

Edison was one of two San Antonio schools to make the cut into the top 50 designs, which were voted on by the public via a contest website, the other being East Central High School. Only Edison moved on to the finals, though.

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This article appears in May 19 – Jun 1, 2021.