It is once said that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. This is exactly what our young Malaysian budding artists have articulated in their artwork which was submitted to the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest, organised for the ninth consecutive year by Toyota Motor Corporation.
The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest with the recently concluded Malaysian National Phase, saw a total of 1,358 entries from 5 November 2014 to 13 February 2015. There are three main categories, namely, Under 8 years old, 8 to 11 years old and 12 to 15 years old.
Organised by Toyota Motor Corporation since 2004 on a global scale, the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest saw a growing participation to 75 participating countries with over 662,000 entries.
Nine art pieces by nine young local participants from Malaysia have been selected on the national level and their art pieces, themed “My Dream Car” have been submitted in March to compete in the World Contest Phase, which will be held in the metropolitan city of Tokyo in August 2015. Judging will be carried out between April and August 2015.
For each category at the National Phase, the Grand Prize is one iPad Mini, the 1st runner up receives an iPod Nano and MPH cash vouchers, while the 2nd runner up wins an iPod Shuffle along with MPH cash vouchers.
Under Category 1 (Under 8 years old), the winning entry went to Liew Wei Teng, aged 7. He described his entry as: “My extreme MPV can travel to any mystery planet as it can avoid and survive in any natural disasters.”
Evonne Tan Wei Ni, aged 11, stole the hearts of the judges when she came up with a futuristic car called Beyond Bounds Vehicle when her work was picked as the Gold winner under Category 2 (Age 8 to 11 years old). Her art piece dwells on this Beyond Bounds Vehicle, a vehicle that takes its passengers reaching uncharted territories on earth and beyond. In these places such as deep underwater, passengers can explore the area with more details and free movement within the transparent bubble.
As for Category 3 (Age 12 to 15 years old), Lee Sin Yin, aged 13 emerged the Gold winner with an art piece that says it all under the wrath of Mother Earth. The vehicle, called the Earth Saver Car helps to forecast the occurrence of natural disasters. It helps to save lives from volcano explosion, earthquake, flood, drought, etc. Besides, it can also help to locate missing flight as well as helps as a role model and promotes recycling.
Datuk Ismet Suki, President of UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd, said he was amazed and mesmerized with the entries, even more with the top three winners’ entries of each category.
“The children’s art pieces presented to us exude confidence and the feeling of joy and freedom in creating something that goes beyond one’s imagination,” he said.
He said whilst Dream Car Contest was aimed at giving the children throughout the world the opportunity to develop an interest in cars, it also allowed them to express themselves in the work of art freely and with joy.
“When our children are carefree and non-restrictive in their creative mind, it will help them feel the joy to etch a dream in their beautiful minds. It is very true that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
“Who knows one day, cars can do more than taking man from point A to point B. Futuristic vehicles will have the complexity with various multi functions use for human beings, in the true sense of the word. This is what you find in the dreams of these children as depicted in the drawings,” he added.
