2025 LCAD Awards

This award is designated for a project or thesis that epitomizes sustainable design innovation, aligning with the mantra: “We make art and design inseparable from planetary health.”

Eligible projects should incorporate interdisciplinary methods and demonstrate a significant positive impact on society and/or the environment.

2025 President’s Innovation Award Winner
Suzelle Urrea – Graphic Design + Digital Media with Illustration Emphasis

Suzelle Urrea is a critical thinker and maker. Her thesis project is a comprehensive, empathetic, and beautiful solution for human experience. Herculean Airways is designed with accessibility at the forefront for individuals who have physical challenges for travel and transportation. This tailored experience design includes materials, finishes, and products to empower differently abled people access to airline travel with a dignified and human approach.

This award celebrates a project or thesis that exemplifies artistic and design ingenuity. It is aimed at work that not only advances new ideas but also combines rigorous scholarship with vital creative practices, signifying excellence in Art and Design as a culminating academic endeavor.

2025 President’s Thesis Award Winner
Ka’eo Luke – Animation

Ka‘eo Luke’s thesis film, Kainga Tupu, tells the story of the endangered kākāpō, a large, flightless, nocturnal parrot native to New Zealand. Once abundant, their habitat has been Devastated – nearly 70% of New Zealand’s indigenous forests have been lost to deforestation and invasive species.

Starting June 2, Ka‘eo joins the Great Basin Institute as a Digital Media Technician at Joshua Tree National Park.

In his words:
“The Great Basin Institute acts as a launchpad for programs where needed. My role is versatile—photography, videography, illustration, graphic design, social media, and likely animation, since they were excited to have someone with that background.”

This award was initiated in 2020 by Suzanne Chonette, an LCAD trustee emerita and alumnus. Each year, graduating students in the BFA Fine Arts, Illustration, and MFA Fine Arts are eligible. This prestigious award is for artwork that exemplifies the best figurative and representational art foundations of LCAD and the student that possesses the qualities critical to a successful career in Fine Art. The selected artwork is purchased by the Board of Trustees to add to LCAD’s permanent collection. It is a tribute to LCAD’s legacy and foundation of figurative art.

2025 Trustee Choice Award Winner
Em Cates – Illustration

“Self-Portrait, Winter” 2024, Oil on panel

Artist Statement
This self-portrait reflects the personal journey of growth and self-acceptance shaped by my experience with mental health struggles throughout my early adulthood. Each year of college, I have painted an 18” x 24” self-portrait, and while the past portraits were made with care, I’ve come to realize they also unintentionally captured a version of myself overcome by self-doubt and denial. Without fully understanding it at the time, my past work often revealed how distant I felt from my own self-worth.

This final self-portrait displays a shift in both mindset and motivations. Set outdoors on a sunlit rock, the painting uses natural light and earthy tones to express a newfound connection to the world around me and to myself. The soft peach glow on my face and the warm, muted palette are a deliberate contrast to the bright reds used in earlier portraits. My pose, turned away from the viewer, suggests I’m still reflecting on darker parts of the past, but still choosing to remain in the light. While I’m still learning and growing, this painting represents a hopeful step forward from the difficult years behind me. It’s a visual manifestation of both the struggles I’ve faced and the positives I’ve gained through them.

The People’s Choice Award is presented annually in recognition of employees who demonstrate exceptional performance and dedication in their workplace. This accolade honors those who consistently exceed expectations, exhibit outstanding initiative, and inspire others with their commitment and positive attitude. It highlights the essential contributions of individuals to the College’s success.

This year, we honor a very special individual for his 30 years of involvement with LCAD. This man, who many have called the invisible man because he’s the man behind the camera, has been a part of LCAD in every capacity. Starting as a student in the ’90s, then an alumni, a faculty member, a staff member, and an inspiring artist– he has served LCAD at every level.

2025 People’s Choice Award Winner
Eric Stoner

In addition to the innovative winners of 2025, LCAD has racked up a few wins as well. The Princeton Review awarded LCAD’s MFA Game Design Program the #4 West Graduate Game Design Program, as well as number 25 in the United States.

Niche ranked LCAD #36 out of 437 Best Colleges for Design in America, and #9 in the West. Furthermore, LCAD stands as the #7 institution among art and design colleges nationwide.

Research.com honored LCAD with the prestigious Most Popular Fine Arts Degree in America, while Animation Career Review placed LCAD in the Top 10% Private Graphic Design Schools and Colleges in the United States, and Top 20% for Animation.