20 June 2019
Wednesday - 25/05/2016
Al-Futtaim Motors, exclusive distributor of Toyota in the UAE, has seen double the participation in its second edition of Toyota’s global initiative, the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest, designed to inspire creativity in youth and encourage interest in making the world a better place.
More than 2,000 entries were made in this year’s edition, up from 1,000, while school participation increased from just 12 in the inaugural year, to 30 this year from across the 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.
“Last year’s competition was impressive in its own right, with over 1,000 entries in the inaugural competition also resulting in a global award,” said Saud Abbasi, Managing Director of Toyota at Al-Futtaim Motors. “We’ve been very impressed not just with the turnout this year, but also the artistic quality of the artwork that we’ve received. More importantly, the topics covered by these young artists reflect the awareness that they have about the world we live in, whether it’s humanitarian aid, the environment, the dangers of over-reliance on smart devices, negative thoughts or anything else that affect our lives.”
Children 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 2016. While in Japan winners will visit a Toyota factory and get to experience different facets of the Japanese culture.
Last year, 875,000 entries from approximately 81 countries and regions around the globe were submitted to the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest worldwide.
The Gold winners’ category consists of:
The Silver winners’ category consists of:
The Bronze winners’ category consists of:
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.
An additional People’s Choice Award was voted on by the audience and went to 14 year old Ranim Osama Kasasbeh. The 9 winners, along with three distinguished artworks submitted by Gargi Sachin Giripunje, Pratheeksha Menon and Afreen Nizam Rasheed will be combined in the Al-Futtaim Motors 2017 calendars which will include high quality reproductions of all 12 entries, celebrating the young talent representing the UAE at the global Toyota Dream Car Art Contest.