Which competition are we talking about?
This is the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest, which is in its 19th year, and this year has seen some 260,000 entries from around the world, submitted by car-mad kids who want to put their dream wheels on paper.
Who were the Irish winners of the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest?
There were nine budding Irish artists selected to go through to the final stage of the competition.
They were, in the Under-7s category, Sasha Gallagher with her Tie-Dye Butterfly Car, Zoe Wiercioch with the Cat Toyota Car and Daithi McLean with his My Planet Flying Car.
In the eight-to-11 category, the Irish winners were Veronika Shpyl with A Shelter Of Peace, Angela Liu with Neon Notes And Flying Pages and Adam Wiercioch with Just Toyota.
In the 12-to-15 category, the Irish entries were Xinyue Xie with Meteor, Emily Liu with Green Gallop and Katie McDowell with Toyota Aqua.
Finally, there were honourable mentions for Conor Sweeney with My Dream Car Toyota, Mikey Hynes for Toyota On The Moon and Ryan Langton and Barry Crowley for Nuclear Toyota (that’s our favourite…).
What’s the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest for?
The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest is designed to encourage kids to pursue both art and car design as potential careers (as well as just being a fun competition to enter), but according to Toyota Ireland, it’s also about inclusivity: “Inclusivity is a big part of Toyota’s Built for a Better World brand purpose, within which the company is committed to helping to make lives better for all Irish people. In line with this philosophy the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest encourages children of all backgrounds and abilities to participate in this year’s showcase. While all entrants can’t win the top three spots in each age category, the competition recognises the efforts of those who might struggle more than others via the Honourable Mentions section of the contest.”
Who were the final winners?
In the Under-7 category, the winner was Isabella Valeria Balderrama Jora, aged five, from Bolivia, with her entry ‘Bright Night’. In the 12-to-15 category, the winner was Hala Mahmud Ahmed Hmmudah, aged 14, from Libya, who designed a multi-wheeled creation called Hala Zona 6x6.
You seem to have skipped over a category there…
We’re saving the best for last because the winner in the eight-to-11 category was none other than Ireland’s Veronika Shpyl, aged 11, with her amazing work, A Shelter Of Peace. Massive congratulations to Veronika from all at CompleteCar.ie, and to everyone who entered.
Where can I see the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest entries?
If you fancy turning it into a holiday, the winning artworks are part of a special exhibition being held at the Moveum gallery in Yokohama until the end of March next year. If you can’t make it that far, you can click here to see the winning Irish entries.
If there is anything about this story we have not covered, you can avail of our expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.