UHWO Student Is Best In West

Ken Tom wearing his winning design

“Because of our campus’ creative media program, I thought it would be wonderful to have a contest that could give students design experience and also create buzz,” stated UHWO bookstore manager Kory Uramoto-Wong. “UHWO students are vibrant, prideful and are meeting their academic goals. That is why we chose the theme ‘West is Best.'”

Tom, who graduates next spring, pulled from his creative mind a design based on typography, and entered thanks to encouragement from his teacher Sharla Hanaoka.

He aimed to create something a bit more modern, but he kept in line with the “West is Best” theme with the addition of a Western-style font.

“I like to design things that are in style now and a little bit of the past,” he explained. “It creates something different.”

Tom’s design was announced as the students’ No. 1 choice after an online poll was conducted last semester.

This marks UHWO’s first West is Best T-shirt contest, which was open only to UHWO students.

The contest followed in the footsteps of UH Bookstores’ annual HI Pride T-Shirt Contest, which takes place each spring.

This is the fourth year the university system sponsors the contest, and any student in the UH system interested in entering has until April 20 to do so.

Contest guidelines are available online at bookstore.hawaii.edu.