9 named local winners of Toyota Dream Car contest

Nine youngsters were named the winners of the local leg of the 2023 Toyota Dream Car Art Contest last Saturday, with the top winners of the three categories moving on to the global level, where their artwork—representing their idea of a futuristic car—will compete with other young artists across the globe.

In the 8-year-old-and-under category, Ya’rlis Doram’s submarine car won first place, Ai Nonogaki’s ecology dream car took second place and Sunyul Park’s meow car landed in third.

In the 8-to-11-year-old division, in first place was Lydia Xian’s music timecar, while Aileen Kim’s “My Memory Car” took second prize, and En Mei Huang’s “The Invention of the Future” took third.

Eunho Park’s earth saving car won first place in the 12-to-15 category, with Alyssa Kim’s “World in Toyota” coming in second and Yu Rong Jiang’s “Astro-Cityz” in third.

According to Atkins Kroll Saipan, the artwork and concepts of these nine individuals will now proceed to the International Toyota Dream Car Art Contest in Japan.

All local winners were presented gift certificates as prizes. At the global level, the final winner receive $5,000 in cash and the school they are from will receive $10,000.

AK has hosted the local Toyota Dream Car Art Contest every year since 2004, making this year the 16th event.

AK’s sales manager Kevin Barnes said the competition has seen over eight million children from over 140 countries participate, but Saipan has already won before at the international level.

“It’s really cool because Saipan is such a small little island but we have won twice in the past four years, which is remarkable,” he said.

Barnes shared that what determines the winner isn’t just great art, but about the individual’s unique concept and ideas, and the message presented.

“The great thing about this contest is it gives kids the chance to kind of…problem solve, think about what they feel is important to the future, what we are lacking now that can be addressed, and find creative ways to solve that problem,” said Barnes “This is a chance to use your imagination and your problem-solving skills and to do something creative.”

Since this is an annual competition, if young artists missed this year’s edition, they can now start thinking of what is important to them and how problems can be solved and submit it at the next event, Barnes added.