Meet Our 2025 T-Shirt Artists

Every year we hold a contest encouraging artists to submit designs for our 2025 t-shirt art for the 10 Mile & 5K. We also hold a contest for kids ages 10-and-under to submit art for our Kids Run t-shirts. Every year we get a large number of wonderful designs, so the process of narrowing the submissions down to one adult design and one kid design is always a difficult one. Below you can learn more about this year’s winning artists, Mikka Kei Ito Macdonald and Ava Bricken, and see their fabulous designs (click on either image below to see a larger image).

10 Mile & 5K T-Shirt Art Designer Mikka Kei Ito MacDonald

Mikka Kei Ito Macdonald is a yonsei (四世, “fourth generation”) and mixed race Japanese American artist, campaign and advocacy specialist, and long-distance runner living in Washington, D.C.  Mikka is also a member of the 2024 Brooks Running Collective.

Her design is inspired by traditional Japanese woodblock prints and the enduring symbol of friendship and solidarity the trees represent. The flowering cherry trees (sakura) near the Tidal Basin were originally a gift from Japan in 1912, and became an annual spring celebration until official festivities were suspended during World War II. After the War, the springtime blossom festivities resumed – and in 1952, the U.S. learned that a “parent grove” of trees outside of Tokyo was faltering from wartime conditions. In response, the U.S. National Park Service shipped budwood from those trees’ descendants back to Japan where arborists were, remarkably, able to revive their original grove.

You can follow Mikka’s art on Instagram at @AkaiItoDesign.

Kids Run T-Shirt Art Designer Ava Bricken

Ava Bricken, age 10, is a 4th Grader at Janney Elementary School in DC. She has a creative spirit and from an early age she has loved to create art – especially scenes with characters. From diners in a Parisian cafe to magical witches making potions, she draws them all. She is proud to add Cherry Blossom runners to her repertoire. When not making art, Ava enjoys playing soccer with her pals, acting in the school plays, and jumping on the trampoline with her big sister, Lilly.