Toyota Ireland has announced the finalists in the 2022 Toyota Dream Car Art Contest.

Nine children from across Ireland were chosen for their impressive artistic skills and inventive ideas in envisioning the perfect car for the future. The chosen nine finalists will now go forward to represent Ireland in Toyota’s worldwide art contest for the chance to win the grand prize of $5000 (€4087) as well as $10,000 (€8175) for their school to be spent on educational resources.

Now in its 15^th year, the Dream Car Art Contest is Toyota’s unique platform that encourages imagination and creativity amongst children aged 15 and under, inspiring them to look ahead and create their vision of what the cars we’ll be driving in the future might look like. Through the contest, Toyota Ireland aims to bring together children of all abilities, backgrounds, ethnicities, genders and interests and showcase their creativity and originality. Given the topic of inclusion is at the cornerstone of Ireland’s best-selling car brand, Toyota Ireland hopes to enable Ireland’s youth to consider diversity and inclusion across all aspects of their daily lives and into the future.

Since 2004, the Dream Car Art Contest has been a demonstration of Toyota’s brand promise of being ‘Built for a Better World’ and has been conducted as part of Toyota’s social contribution initiatives, growing from strength to strength each year. Coupling the creative artworks with Toyota’s commitment to innovation and design, Toyota wishes to enable Irish school-goers to showcase their vision for the future and encourage them to think differently.

This year’s nine finalists were chosen from three categories (7 and under, 8-11 Years and 12-15 Years), with three finalists selected from each group. As well as progressing to the grand finals, the finalists were also presented with a selection of prizes at Toyota Ireland for making it into the next round of the competition. As this year’s first, we have also included Honorable Mentions as part of the award ceremony to include more children every year. Toyota Ireland’s judges were inspired by the entrant’s beautiful designs and imaginative dream cars on display. Toyota believes that creativity and imagination can take people anywhere, and the creations this year were very much in line with their “Built for a Better World” brand promise.

The finalists making it through to the global competition are:

7 and Under

1^st Prize                Mia Wiercioch Chinatamunnee, (Age 7, from Cavan), – “Whale Car”

2^nd Prize               Emma Guo (Age 7, from Dublin) –  “Water Making Car”

3^rd Prize                Adam Goku Wiercioch Chinatamunnee (Age 5, from Dublin) – “Cat Car”

8-11 Years

1^st Prize                Preksha Tushar Utekar (Age 9, from Mullingar) – “Supra Martian Car”

2^nd Prize               Johan Felix Peter (Age 10, from Tullamore) – “To the Moon and Back!”

3^rd Prize                Sophie Maria Vaughan (Age 8, from Ballyscanlon) – “Hydro Girl Power”

12-15 Years

1^st Prize                Elizabeth McElroy (Age 15, from Dublin) –  “Bee Green”

2^nd Prize               Genevieve Claire Daunt Brennan (Age 12, from Dublin) – “Tree-eco Car”

3^rd Prize                Amy (Ziyi) He (Age 12, from Dublin) – “Trisha the Terrific Toyota Turtle”

Honorable Mentions

                                Jane Gogarty (Age 15, from Dublin) – “Life after Trash”

                                Adam Tom Kiely (Age 11, from Rathkeale) – “The Sonicmobile”

                                Jayden Joseph Wilmott (Age 11, from Rathkeale) – “The Space Mobile”

Zoe Bradley, Head of Marketing Communications, Toyota Ireland, said “We have witnessed an incredible selection of original and creative entries for this year’s Toyota Dream Car Art Contest. We are continuously amazed by the calibre and quality of the fantastic designs that our young people have entered throughout the competition.

Over the past 15 years, we have seen some incredible creations, exceptional talent and of course, unique designs in the competition and we believe it is a fantastic opportunity for school-goers across the country to showcase their creative flair and fresh thinking. With Toyota’s commitment to inventiveness and imagination, we take great pride in coordinating this competition each year as it allows us to gain an insight into the minds of the inventors and creators of the future. We were delighted to see the true passion for the climate and environment come through in our entrants' creative designs, which is what our brand promise ‘Built for a Better World’ is centered around.

For this year’s competition, which was open to students of all abilities, we were thrilled to see the hard work and effort put in by some of the country’s brightest minds to create incredible art as well as give us food for thought for the future. We at Toyota Ireland wish all of the finalists the very best of luck with the next stage of the competition and we hope to see an Irish entry in the final.”