You’ll recall last month the University of Hawai’i and Uni Watch partnered on a contest to design a special edition uniform for the Rainbow Wahine Basketball Program. The winner will receive a cash prize of $1,500, roundtrip airfare for one to Honolulu, and accommodations, for the basketball game slated for January 25, where the winning design will be worn and showcased to hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide.
We received over 100 entries, and these are the final ones to be shown. Although UH Athletics Staff, Players and Administrators will choose one winning design, readers are encouraged to discuss the submissions and to choose their favorite(s).
This is the final part: Part VI.
To see the submissions of Part I, Click Here
To see the submissions of Part II, Click Here.
To see the submissions of Part III, Click Here.
To see the submissions of Part IV, Click Here.
To see the submissions of Part V, Click Here.
Please discuss the concepts below and pick your favorites!
Ka’aona Solomon
Isabella Amian
Dinizzle Fershizzle-MaNizzle
Danielle Tuscher
Shane Nakanelua-Johnson
Nick Holmquist
Tito Jones
Sherwin Agapay
To see full size images, click here, here, here and here.
Duane Fukumoto
Southern Hockey Co.
Eric Scott
Yukari Hirano
Hayes Canupp
James Weigand
** Please note: this image appears to be AI generated.
Kira Roark
John Jenks
Ty Stevenson
Jennifer Stevenson
Skyline Jackson
And that’s all for Part VI, and for the submissions. Finalists will be announced shortly!
Wow, really liked Duane Fukumoto’s entry – Strength and Courage. Uniform pulls in a “Classic” look. Noticed 4 stars posted on the upper left shoulder area over the Big West Logo symbol. My husband explained that this might be to signify the 4 Championship that were won in the Big West Conference. Truly impressive.
Great eye!!! Yes! The four stars represent the 4 Big West Championships our Wahine won (dating back to Vince Goo’s Days). We’re very proud of Wahine, and appreciate your eye for detail! There’s quite a bit more to the design as well, and hope we have a chance to share more about it! Hope you have a chance to scan that QR for the hype video as well–it was a blast to design for our Alma Mater.
Serious question. Did people who did not know what “Wahine” means not bother to look it up?
If you’re genuinely trying to win the prize from University of Hawai’i, I would think that a women’s uniform presented on the generic image of a man is going to seriously hamper your chances.
There are a few of them throughout the 6 (so far) parts released by UW.
Hey! I am one of the designers and the reason I used a male mockup template was that was all I had. I looked around for a women’s basketball mockup but unfortunately didn’t find one so I ended up using what I already had. It was by no means as an offense or ignorance, just working with what I had
I would have used a generic flat template if I couldn’t find a women-specific uniform template. This is just my observation and I could be wrong, but I would think male figures modeling a women’s basketball uniform design are not going to be looked at the same by the ones who will be judging the entries.
My 2 cents: I’ve been in countless art contests over my lifetime and you’d be surprised how many judges will award a blue ribbon to the artwork that is matted and framed better than an equally strong piece of artwork with less than stellar matting and framing, even though the matting and framing isn’t being judged. You don’t want to give a judge the tiniest of reasons to not love your work; it’s all subjective, after all.
Totally fair! I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future and invest in a flat mockup.
Thanks for the advice and looking out
Unfortunately, I didn’t see my submission posted in any of the parts.
Hi John,
Apologies — this ended up in the SPAM account of one of the administrators. We tracked it down, and here it is!
No worries. Thanks!!
Really like the southern hockey co ones
Thanks for noting the AI elements on that one entry – immediately stood out to me as being funky.
Curious: what tips off the suspicion that a design might be AI-generated? What’s the ruling for now and future contests?
One the entry by James Weigand, the easiest way you can tell it was AI generated because all the words are distorted. Look at “University” or “Adidas” to see what I mean. The “H” logo is also really funky, as well as the number/text on the tagging on the uniform.
I feel like AI shouldn’t be allowed at all in these contests, especially when money is involved. But that’s just me.
Those who will be making the decisions of the finalists/winner are well aware that this entry is (almost assuredly) AI generated. I highly doubt they will be considering it.
I’m no expert in AI by any means, but I’ve seen many AI generated images for sports uniforms in the past year. The usual obvious signs are present here: look at the adidas logo and the spelling of “University” — both are wrong — something that often happens with AI.
Example: this Raiders helmet. link
Thanks for clarifying. Makes sense. I hate the idea of putting the burden on anyone, but could UW screen all submissions in the future and post only those that haven’t been AI generated? Sorry to be a killjoy.
I like Kira’s submission. I’m a sucker for powder blue. I love how it blends with the yellow and green.
So, do you expect more contests like this to be coming in the future? I loved the Griffins contests when I was young(er), and designing for this contest (I was the entry on day one that had a lot of rainbow striping and the Hawaiian islands on the chest in place of a wordmark) reminded me why I had so much fun with it.
Will there be more design contests? Yes.
Will they all be as generous as this (and it’s all from the U of Hawai’i!)?
Probably not.
But there will definitely be additional design contests coming!
big ups for nick’s designs; rockin with um a lot and really hoping they make it far!
I like James Weigand’s submission, but I would love to see what it looks like if you replace the neck and arm piping and waistband with (having a hard time describing it) the triangle pattern or diamond pattern that appears on many of the selections. I think it would be a good offset from the rainbow on rainbow / color on color as it is now.
I didn’t see my design get featured at all.
As soon as I saw your comment, I contacted the admin. Your design, and your husbands, have both now been added.
Apologies.
My top 5 from all the submissions (besides mine and my wife’s (which didn’t get shown))
Joshua Sanders (part 1)
Isaac Daggett (part 3)
Taylor Merritt (part 4)
Colby Sanders (part 5)
Nick Holmquist (part 6)
I think a lot of the other designs are really fun and creative but most of them are WAY too busy to look good in person or on-court. Simple designs are what translates well to real uniforms.
I did not see my uniform submission posted.
When will the top 10 be announced. Also some didn’t follow the ncaa jersey requirements. Will this disqualify them. I think it was part of the contest requirements. Just wondering. I am glad the university did this and got the fans involved. Hope it continues
I believe the powers-that-be (not me/UW) will be deciding on the finalists either on August 1 or shortly thereafter. And I’m sure those who didn’t follow the rules (it wasn’t *just* NCAA jersey requirements) will be docked. But that’s not my call.
Once the 10 finalists are made known to me, I’ll run those!
Gotta rock with Duane Fukumoto on this one. Very clean!
Sherwin Agapay’s design is what caught my eye with his attention to detail. The “H” was incorporated on the knee and the middle of the Waihine word for a clean symmetry finish. The 50th flag up top back to add color of representation. The sponsor logo’s were placed respectively on the shoulders and with the Polynesian tribal designs placed on the sides of the top jersey blended in to the bottom short jersey.