Design a T-Shirt Competition Results for World Car Free Day 2025
Every year, our community gets creative for our T-shirt Design Competition — 2025 was our biggest yet! We received over 175 entries from tamariki, rangatahi, and adults across Auckland. The imagination, colour, and heart in every design blew us away. 💥
The Mission ✏️
We set a challenge to design a World Car Free Day tee that would:
- Celebrate exploring the beauty of the Whau River’s existing pathways 🌊
- Show why Te Whau Pathway should be finished 🚲
- Imagine how the pathway could support World Car Free Day in the future 🌱
Each t-shirt became more than just art — it was a message of movement, connection, and a car-free future, even if just for a day.
Creativity on Show 🌟
From cheeky doodles to bold colour explosions, the entries showed off the Whau in every style imaginable. Our tamariki brought fresh, playful ideas, while older artists added detail and depth — together creating a gallery of designs that turn the awa (river) into a fashion icon.
A Big Thank You 🙌
A huge thank you to everyone who entered this year. Whether it was your first time or you’ve been part of the competition before, you’ve helped make this year something really special. Your designs don’t just look great — they help tell the story of the Whau and what a future with less cars could mean for us all.
And the Winners Are… 🏆
Drumroll, please… 🥁
First Place: Elizabeth Heagren
Elizabeth is 13 and goes to Avondale Intermediate School.
“I think what inspired me was probably the nature side of it. It was kind of hard to think of something original, but I wanted it to feel New Zealand-y, so I put in koru shapes and some stripes — and even though I usually like sketching people in my spare time, I enjoyed trying something different.”
Second Place: Vanshika Kumar
Vanshika is 11 years old and is a student at Freyberg Community School. Her design was shaped by both her Fijian roots and Māori culture. “Since I’m from Fiji I really like to embrace the Melanesian in me. And also, since I live in New Zealand, the Māori culture is really important to me, so I wanted to bring those things to my design.” She also drew inspiration from the Whau River, which she described as “very beautiful… there’s lots of plants, animals and habitats there.”
Third Place: Bushra Tasneem
Bushra is in her final year at Avondale College. She is talented and also won our photo competition earlier this year! Bushra’s t-shirt design mixes a bold slogan with symbols that show growth and connection. “I quite liked how the river kind of flowed into a koru,” she says, pointing out her favourite detail. She was inspired by past winners but wanted to make the design her own, adding elements that felt meaningful. A design student who has loved drawing since she was little, Bushra says she hoped her design would encourage people to “maybe be a bit more environmentally conscious, you know… like use public transport more, or just be more mindful about how they treat the environment.”
Finalists
Congratulations to all our ten finalists: Aliyaa Hazzin (Avondale College), Bushra Tasneem (Avondale College), Dhia Prasanna (Remuera Intermediate), Elizabeth Heagren (Avondale Intermediate), Elsa Wu (Blockhouse Bay Primary School), Jaemie Sasano (Owairaka Primary), Kyla Williams (Rutherford College), Milo Sasano (Pasadena Intermediate), Oliver Gilbert (Rutherford College) and Vanshika Kumar (Freyberg Community School).
Photo gallery
Here you can see all the amazing artwork that was entered. Click on an image to see its larger version and then use the arrows to navigate.
What’s next?
Te Whau Pathway Project runs a t-shirt photo competition in the autumn – keep an eye on our socials for updates or sign up to our newsletter.
About this competition
| Date | Friday 22nd September 2025 |
| Location | Whau River Catchment Area |
| Type | Design |
| Who | 164 artists in the Whau River area |
| Funders | Te Whau Pathway Environment Trust |
