Marine Veteran Earns Second National Creative Arts Honor

When you walk past Matthew “Matt” Knapp’s office at the Thomas H. Corey VA Medical Center, the glow of a monitor often reveals words in motion, expanding and accelerating across the screen in precise rhythm.  Timelines are layered. Audio is segmented to fractions of a second. Every frame is intentional. What you may not immediately see is that the discipline behind the work was forged long before the editing began. 

Matt, a Marine Corps Veteran, earned third place at the 2025 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in the short video general theme category. The national competition featured more than 7,000 entries submitted by 4,500 Veterans representing 124 VA facilities across the country. This marks Matt’s second national honor; he previously earned national recognition in 2019.

For Matt, the award is significant but the story behind it runs deeper. 

Matt served four years with the 8th Engineer Support Battalion as an engineer, continuing a family legacy defined by sacrifice. Military service was never a question. It was an inheritance.

His father served two tours in Vietnam. His mother was an Army nurse. One grandfather stormed beaches in the Pacific during World War II. The other flew B-17 bombers over Germany.

“I can think of nothing more important than serving those who have sacrificed so much for the freedom we enjoy,” Matt said.

After leaving the Marine Corps, nearly 16 years passed before he began working in Medical Media at the West Palm Beach VA Healthcare System. During those years, service took a different form. 

He became a caregiver.

Matt accompanied his father through cancer treatment and chemotherapy related to Agent Orange exposure. Many of those appointments took place at the Thomas H. Corey VA Medical Center, the same facility where he now works. Between inpatient hospital stays, he built a freelance career in web and graphic design, refining the creative skills that would later define his professional path. When he was ready to transition into federal service, he joined the West Palm Beach VA Healthcare System through the Compensated Work Therapy program and later secured full federal employment.

“I was seeking meaningful employment using my digital and creative background, and the VA seemed like a perfect fit.”

In Medical Media, he helps capture the stories of Veterans whose lives are defined by service, resilience and quiet strength. He does not see storytelling as separate from patient care. He sees it as an extension of it.  “Everyone has a story, and many Veterans are private by nature. When you are able to capture and share a Veteran’s story, you gain a glimpse into that Veteran’s lived experience. That is Veteran engagement.”

Both of his nationally recognized submissions were kinetic typography projects, videos that rely solely on animated text rather than traditional imagery. The format leaves nowhere to hide. “I have found that having the limits of making text animate without the use of additional imagery is both challenging and fun,” Matt said.

His 2025 submission tackled a difficult and rarely discussed topic, children being used as military combatants around the world. The pacing proved to be the greatest challenge, demanding rapid, impactful transitions to match the song’s lyrical tempo. It required technical precision and emotional restraint.  When he learned he placed third nationally, he was surprised. “The choice of song and some of the animations I created were a bit graphic, so I was not expecting it to be received so well.”

Professionally, Matt operates within government standards; personally, he creates without constraint, yet he does not draw a line between the two.“I am creative by nature, and I often push myself both professionally and personally to try new things and not be afraid to fail and start again if necessary.”

That mindset echoes the values that shaped him. He believes the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival offers something deeper than competition. “It gives Veterans like myself and many others an outlet for expression. We all share a common lived experience, and in many cases only Veterans fully understand art centered around service.” 

For Veterans who doubt their creative abilities, his message is direct. “You cannot win if you don’t play the game. Everyone starts somewhere, and the only way you get better at something is by trying without giving up.”

Even after national recognition, Matt is quick to redirect the spotlight. “We have an amazing team at West Palm Beach. I hope, in my own small way, to add to it and am grateful for the opportunity to do so.”

For Matt, creativity is not just expression. It is service continued, intentional and deeply personal.