Toyota Dream Car Art Contest Encourages Passion, Creativity And Talent From More Canadian Youth

TORONTO, ON., (April 6, 2015) – Toyota’s 2015 Dream Car Art Contest continues to encourage the limitless imaginations of Canada’s young people.

Last fall, Canadians were asked to invite youth ages 15 and under, to unleash their creativity in the annual Toyota Dream Car Art Contest. In its third year in Canada, the contest inspired more innovative minds of Canadian youth than any previous year, receiving a record number of artwork.

“The artistic talent we saw from this year’s group of entries was truly breathtaking,” said Seiji Ichii, President and Chief Executive Officer, Toyota Canada Inc. “It’s inspiring to experience the unique, bold and innovative imagination behind every idea of what the future of this industry could be.”

With the contest designed to inspire innovation and encourage the importance of having a dream among youth, entries were judged on originality, creativity and relevance to the “Dream Car” theme.  This year’s judging panel featured:

• Brandie Weikle, Editor of thenewfamily.com
• Geneviève Côté, award-winning children’s book illustrator
• Lucille Pacey, President and CEO of Arts Umbrella  
• Seiji Ichii, President and CEO of Toyota Canada Inc.

The nine winning entries – across three age categories – are:

Under 8 years:

• Triphibian Toyota (Enzo, age 7)
• Three in One Car (Colin, age 7)
• The Fun Camper (Amanda, age 7)

8-11 years:

• Leafmobile (Noelle, age 11)
• The Miracle Car of Weathers (Karen, age 10)
• The Future (Jacob, age 10)

12-15 years:

• Dream Society (Grace, age 15)
• Cheerota-Up (Katherine, age 13)
• Portable Playground (Reilly, age 13)

All nine winners will be awarded the prize of a 7-inch 8GB tablet device (with Wi-Fi), at local ceremonies being held as follows:

“I can’t say enough about what the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest does to shine light into the workings of children’s minds,” said Brandie Weikle. “It was a treat to get to spend time looking at these drawings and reading about the creative thinking that went into them.”

Added Geneviève Côté: “At all ages, cars can be vessels for dreams, and it was certainly reflected in every category of this competition. Most entries showed inventiveness and drawing skills that were way beyond my expectations, making choices very difficult at times!”

Lucille Pacey felt the same way: “Judging was very difficult, so many wonderful, talented young people with creative ideas,” she said. “The task was not easy, but was most interesting and inspiring. Congratulations to all the contestants.”  

In addition, the winners have now been entered as Canada’s representatives in the world contest. Ten winning entries will be selected for each age group, totaling 30 global finalists. In August 2015, each global finalist (and his/her parents/guardians) will be invited to visit Japan on an all-expenses paid trip to attend the award ceremony. Last year, four of the nine Canadian winners were selected among the top 90 global submissions of more than 660,000 that were received from 75 countries.

To view the winning Canadian entries and learn more about the Toyota Dream Art Contest, please visit www.toyota.ca/dreamcarartcontest.  

About Toyota Canada Inc.

Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles.  Celebrating its 50th anniversary in Canada, Toyota has sold over 4.6 million vehicles in Canada through a national network of 285 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships. Toyota is dedicated to bringing safety, quality, dependability and reliability in the vehicles Canadians drive and the service they receive.  TCI’s head office is located in Toronto, with regional offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Halifax and parts distribution centres in Toronto and Vancouver.  Toyota operates two manufacturing facilities in Canada which build popular Canadian vehicles: Toyota RAV4, Toyota Corolla, Lexus RX 350 and RX 450h hybrid and just celebrated production of its 6 millionth vehicle.

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