•    Close to 1,000 local entries from 12 different schools
•    Nine local winners submitted to international competition
•    Chance to win a trip to Japan

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, May 11, 2015: Al-Futtaim Motors, exclusive distributor of Toyota in the UAE, has unveiled the winners of the inaugural Toyota Dream Car Art Contest, the company’s global initiative designed to inspire creativity in youth and encourage interest in making the world a better place. 

Held in collaboration with the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest saw around 1,000 entries from 12 different schools across the UAE participating across three different age groups: below 7, 8 to 11, and 12 to 15. 

Al-Futtaim Motors celebrated the winners at a special art exhibition and awards ceremony held at the Toyota Dubai Festival City showroom where top national winners and global contest shortlists were awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze Prizes.

“We have witnessed tremendous support from the participating schools as they saw the value of raising children’s awareness when it comes to topics like future a and responsible mobility, as well as nurturing their imagination and creating a new generation of not only artists, but members of society that can make a difference in the global community,” said Jon Williams, Managing Director, Al-Futtaim Motors. 

“The UAE joins 80 global markets in this unique competition, and we believe we have a very strong showing from extremely talented and imaginative young artists. The art we have submitted looks at addressing societal issues or keeping our planet green with sustainable eco-vehicles, amongst many other important topics. It’s impressive to see this sort of awareness from a young generation, and their recognition of the importance of mobility in our lives.”
Children from the top 9 UAE winners who will make it to the final stages of the global contest will be invited along with their parents or guardians on a trip to Japan to participate in an awards ceremony in August 2015. While in Japan winners will visit a Toyota factory and get to experience different facets of the Japanese culture. 

An additional People’s Choice Award was voted on by the audience and went to Al Anood Khamis Alkaabi.
The ten winners, along with two distinguished artworks, will be combined in the Al-Futtaim Motors 2016 calendar which will be available later this year. The calendar will include high quality reproductions of all 12 entries, celebrating the young talent representing the UAE at the global Toyota Dream Car Art Contest.

Last year, over 660,000 youth, ages 4-15 from 78 countries submitted their creative artworks to the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest worldwide. Of these, over 600 entries were submitted to Japan for consideration in the world contest.

The Gold winners’ category consists of:

• 7 years old Kelly Alice Dominic from the Emirates International School her Rainbow Car submission
• 10 year old Minhal Adnan Sami from the Emirates International School for his Ecofix Car submission
• 14 year old Alanood Khamis Alkaabi from Al Maaref Private School for her Animal Helping Car submission

The Silver winners’ category consists of:

• 7 years old Aneeka Rehan from The Westminster School for her F.R. Fish Racer submission
• 10 year old Kellie Espinoza De Guzman from the Emirates International School for her Toyota Space Save Car submission
• 14 year old Kajol shree Ravichandran from Buds Public School for her Solution for disaster & cleaning the environment submission

The Bronze winners’ category consists of:

• 7 years old Shalom Mendonca for her Toyota Cleaner Car submission
• 11 year old Omar Yousef Alsheybah from the Emirates International School for his Pollution Buster submission
• 14 year old Anoushka Alexandrina Rodrigues from The Westminster School for her Rescue Car submission

Winners received art and technology related prizes worth around AED 35,000 in total.

Select artwork from the contest will be touring and decorating the Toyota facilities in the UAE, allowing an even wider audience to celebrate the talent and vision of the UAE’s up and coming generation of artists.