Kids design cars of the future

Hundreds of New Zealand children have entered the global Toyota Dream Car Art Contest, with winners from each age category announced this week. The competition, now in its third year in New Zealand, ran from November 2016 to February 2017 and invited children from over 80 countries to draw their dream cars and share their ideas about the future. The top three artists in each category will be submitted to the Japan-based world contest, with global finalists announced in June and an award ceremony held in August. New Zealand category winners Kumar, Toni Wilson, and Sophie Irvine will take home an Apple iPad mini. National contest winners will also receive a Toyota gift pack. Entires were judged on the message of the artwork, the uniqueness and its artistic characteristics by the Toyota New Zealand management team and Te Manawa Museum CEO Andy Lowe. “It is quite remarkable to see such creativity in their artwork and just how important protecting and improving their environment is,” said Toyota New Zealand’s general manager of marketing, Andrew Davis. New Zealand finalists include Toni Wilson’s “Toyota Pods”, Sophie Irvine’s “Bee-Car See Library,” Max Middlemiss’ “Robotech Crocodile Dancing Car”, Josephine Situ’s “Toyota Bee Friend” and Nina Booth’s “Phoenix Transformer.” Over 800,000 children worldwide entered the 2016-2017 competition.