Evelyn Klima, a ninth grader at Mount Vernon High School has been chosen as the cover design winner for the “The Corridor Jazz Project XVIII,” a compilation of recordings featuring 21 high school jazz bands produced by Iowa’s Jazz Station.

“We had a record number of entries this year, so the competition was especially stiff,” says KCCK general manager Dennis Green. “One panel member remarked that the quality of the submissions just gets better and better each year.”

The Corridor Jazz Project features the top jazz bands from Jefferson, Kennedy, Prairie, Xavier and Washington High Schools in Cedar Rapids; Linn-Mar and Marion in Marion; City High and West High in Iowa City, Anamosa, Center-Point Urbana, Clear Creek-Amana, Independence, Liberty, Lisbon, Mid-Prairie, Mount Vernon, Solon, West Branch, West Liberty, and Williamsburg. West Liberty is new to the program in 2025.

Evelyn will receive a $100 cash prize from KCCK-FM.

Receiving Honorable Mention in the contest were these students:

• Valeria Amaya, Marion

• Kassy Conway, North Linn

• Archie Fisher, City High

• Mya Furnish, Linn-Mar

• Gavin Hatcher, Linn-Mar

• Ava Kerns, Kennedy

• Duncan Spain, Marion

• Hayley Speidel, Kennedy

• Charlee Tyo, Marion

• Owen Voelker, Marion

Evelyn’s original piece, as well as those receiving Honorable Mention will be exhibited during the Corridor Jazz Project concerts, March 10 at the Paramount Theatre, and March 11 at Voxman Hall of Music, University of Iowa.

The Corridor Jazz Project is a jazz education and mentoring program created by KCCK-FM. The program matches each high school’s top jazz band with a professional jazz player, who performs as a guest soloist with the band. The subsequent recordings have been collected and will be released as a downloadable album and CD.

Jazz 88.3 KCCK is the public radio station operated as a part of the community outreach of Kirkwood Community College.