Dream car contest winners feted

By JONAH ONYANGO

The Global 2014 Toyota Dream Car Art Contest Kenya Chapter that ran in the recent past on Generation Next came to a close with fanfare at the Toyota Kenya Showroom in Nairobi. Parents and teachers accompanied their children and pupils to the event eager to know the winners while representing their families and institutions in the annual contest.

The contest dubbed “ Your Dream—The car of the future” aims to present art as a viable career option for the young by challenging them practice their drawing talent through the competition that requires them to sketch their dream cars. The contest also aims to develop their interest in cars and the joy and importance of having a dream. It is open to three categories, the below eight years, eight to 11 years, and 12-15 years categories.

This year’s Kenya Chapter contest ran between late January and early March this year. Following successful advertising and activations in schools, the dream car team received close to 1, 000 entries who were judged to produce nine winners in the national draw. These winners will participate in the global competition where they stand a chance to win a fully paid for trip to Japan accompanied by a parent or guardian.

A team of judges in the seventh edition  of the  competition last month selected the winners   who either won Bronze, Silver and Gold titles.  The judges cited immense creativity in the submissions even as some contestants opted for copy pasting some of  last year’s drawings.

The winners were showered with awards that included Play Stations, SWAG tablets and assorted shopping vouchers.  

In the under-eight years category, Dhirish Shah from Nairobi won Gold followed by Silver medallist Natasha Shallo from Mombasa while Aditya Rathore clinched the  Bronze in the same category.

In age category two for eight to eleven years olds, Pranali Patel of Nairobi won Gold followed by Adarsh Patel who scooped Silver as Sumam Saha took home the  Bronze.

In the final category for  12 to 15 years old, Sunit Sujit and  Meer Vimal Shah, both of  Mombasa, scooped gold and silver respectively while Charanpreet Aidhy of Nairobi was awarded Bronze.

The world contest prizewinners will be invited to attend an award ceremony to   in August this year at Toyota Motor Corporation  and its headquarters in Japan. While gracing the occasion, Toyota Kenya’s Managing Director Sachio Yotsokwa said: “The aim of dream car is inline with our Vision and philosophy and also an opportunity for the children to participate”