Toyota Ireland today sparked the imaginations of kids around Ireland when they kicked off their Dream Car Art Contest — a national art competition for under-16’s that will put 15 young aspiring artists in with a chance to compete on a global stage for a once in a lifetime trip to Japan, as well as win fantastic prizes such as games consoles and art supplies.
Toyota is asking Irish children across three age group categories (Under 10 years, 10-12 years, 13-15 years) to draw or paint their idea of their ‘Dream Car’ using standard art materials such as markers, paint or crayons (digital submissions will not be accepted). All submissions must be in colour and include a car and a background or setting. The competition is open now through January 31, 2012 and all art entries can be submitted either via Toyota dealerships around Ireland (a full list is at www.toyota.ie ) or to Toyota Ireland, Killeen Road, Dublin 12. Submissions should be marked ‘Toyota Dream Car Art Contest’ and must be accompanied by an entry form which can be downloaded from www.toyota.ie.
A panel of three judges including well known artist Don Conroy, children’s TV presenter Emma O’Driscoll and David Shannon, Managing Director of Toyota Ireland will pick five finalists in each age category as the national winners. The talented 15 winners which will be announced in February, 2012, will receive the following prizes:
1st Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect plus €100 games voucher and a signed limited edition Don Conroy print.
2nd Nintendo 3DS plus €100 games voucher
3rd Artzone.ie 5 day art camp plus art party pack
4th €150 voucher for art supplies
5th €100 voucher for art supplies
In addition to the individual prizes, €250 Star Supplies vouchers will be awarded to the schools of the children who make it into the top five in each category. The national winners will also be put forward into the global competition where their selected art works will compete with international winners for Gold, Silver, Bronze and Special Awards, which will be presented during a once-in-a-lifetime four day trip to Japan in August 2012.
Commenting on the announcement, David Shannon, Managing Director of Toyota Ireland said: “Ireland has always thrived on creativity and artistic excellence, and we look forward to discovering and celebrating the next generation of artists and seeing what lies inside their imaginations. We are looking for creative and distinctive artworks that will catch the eye of our judges, represent Ireland on a global platform and give us an imaginative vision of what a car of the future could look like.”
Full competition details and rules for the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest can be found at www.toyota.ie