Art is Lyfe: Seattle’s 10-Year-Old Lyfe Wilson Reaches Top 5 in National Stan Lee Competition
For ten-year-old Lyfe Wilson, art and superheroes are his outlet into another realm. A multi-talented artist, dancer, and skateboarder hailing from South Seattle, Wilson is currently capturing national attention as a top contestant in the 2026 Stan Lee’s Super Kid Competition, a major nationwide fundraising campaign organized by Colossal to benefit the Stan Lee Foundation.
The competition, which launched with over 120 young visionaries from across the country, honors the legacy of iconic Marvel co-creator Stan Lee. After consistently holding leading positions throughout earlier public voting rounds, Wilson has successfully advanced into the prestigious Top 5 group finals.
The stakes couldn't be higher: the grand prize of the 2026 Stan Lee Super Kid Competition includes an illustrated feature in a special-edition Stan Lee comic book, four VIP passes to the 2027 Los Angeles Comic Con, and a $25,000 cash prize. The final voting deadline for this round closes this Thursday, October 22, at 7 p.m. (PDT).
A Dream Framed in Comic Books
According to Wilson’s mother, Joy Sparks, reaching the top tier of Stan Lee’s Super Kid Competition is the culmination of Wilson’s lifelong passion for storytelling and visual art. Sparks, a literacy advocate known in Seattle as "The Black Book Fairy" and the founder of the mobile bookstore Hella Black Books, recalled early signs of her son's artistic trajectory.
“He's been an artist for a very long time,” Sparks said. “When he was just two years old, I took him to the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum. I still have a photo of him standing there in his Spider-Man shoes. Seeing everything come full circle now with Marvel characters and comic book art feels completely magical.”
Wilson’s favorite superhero is Miles Morales, the young Black Spider-Man whose artistic flair and worldbuilding stands out to him. When asked how drawing makes him feel, Wilson described an immersive experience.
“It feels like I'm in a different universe,” he said. That imaginative world is what drives his art, whether he is sketching characters or drawing original artwork for his classmates at Thurgood Marshall Elementary.
Literacy, Representation, and Community Alignment
The campaign’s mission resonated with Sparks, who founded Hella Black Books in 2018 to promote literacy and increase access to Black literature for children in Black and Brown communities.
“Growing up, we didn't have a lot of books in our home, and I struggled academically,” Sparks said. “When I saw my own children facing similar challenges with test vocabulary and reading comprehension, I started collecting thousands of books to promote literacy in our family. That grew into taking mobile book displays to school multicultural nights and community festivals so children can see success stories and characters who look like them.”
Because the Stan Lee Foundation focuses on promoting literacy and the narrative arts, the competition aligns with Sparks' mission: giving a young Black artist the platform to see himself represented in mainstream comic media.
How Seattle Can Vote
If Wilson wins the current group final, he will also earn the chance to participate in a dedicated drawing phase, where contestants submit original artwork for a chance to be selected by the critic's choice panel.
With voting coming down to the wire, the Seattle community can support Wilson by casting votes online:
Free Daily Votes: Supporters can cast one free vote every 24 hours via Wilson’s Official Competition Profile.
Donated Votes: Purchased votes directly benefit the Stan Lee Foundation, with every $1 donation counting as 1 vote towards Wilson’s campaign.
Voting for the group finals closes strictly at 7 p.m. (PDT) this Thursday, October 22, 2026.
Learn more about the 2026 Stan Lee’s Super Kid Competition at thesuperkid.org
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