Every child is born with a talent, the need is only to make these little ones become aware of it. Toyota, Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) supports and encourages children to bring forth their talent. And,what better way could there be than to organize a contest? Toyota Dream Car Contest 2012 was organized by ALJ across the Kingdom. The contest laid down the perfect platform for kids to unveil their hidden creative talent. The theme was “Your Dream - the Car of the Future!” The children were required to draw pictures of their dream cars. The contest which commenced in January ended last month with an overwhelming response of more than 2800 entries from around the Kingdom. It witnessed an all over increase of 30 percent than the previous year, and the Kingdom's western and central regions saw an increase of 45.8 percent and 48.6 percent respectively. “As in previous years the artwork submitted show that children in Saudi Arabia are highly talented and creative, with an amazing capacity to think outside the box and produce the most imaginative concepts of their dream car of the future, illustrating their passion for the world of cars,” said Adel Ezzat, Director of Marketing at Toyota (ALJ). “My congratulations to every single one of the entrants as well as the fifteen children whose winning artworks will now be considered for entry in the World Contest in Japan and who, if selected, will have the chance to win a trip to Japan. I also want to thank Toyota Motor Corporation for initiating this exciting global event and also the jury members and participants for their efforts in making this competition such a huge success.” Faisal Mirza, General Manager of Communications and Public Relations at Toyota (ALJ) said, “This year, to give the maximum number of kids a chance to enter, we went to every town and sent our touring booth to various locations around the Kingdom where they attracted a phenomenal number of visitors.” The winners were chosen by Dr. Effat A. Fadag of Dar Al-Hekma College, chairman of Islamic Art Department at King Abdul-Aziz University, local artist Ahmed Hussain Al Ghamdi and Nahar Marzooq, president of the Society for Fine Arts in Jeddah. To justify all entrants winners were categorized under three different age groups. Marzooq said: “Now in its second year in Saudi Arabia, Toyota's brilliant initiative has achieved wide popularity thanks to the excellent organizational capabilities of ALJ. The competition succeeds admirably in its aim to instill confidence in our talented children and guide them towards the top. This is clearly evident in the large number of entries submitted in the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest, which we found very difficult to judge since they were of an impressively high standard.” The Kingdom is one of the 46 countries participating in the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest. The national winning entries will now compete with all other winners from across the globe in Japan. Winners of the international contest will be awarded a prize in gold, silver and bronze along with other consolation prizes.Winners (13 - 15 years old) Names Position Aysha Mohammad Ahmad Abol-Fateh First Nora Abdullah Hassan Al Saif Second Batool Jawad Mosa Bukamsin Third Sultan Attef Bakr Darwish Fourth Mohamed Abdulahaleem Ibrahim Al Shahed FifthWinners (10 - 12 years old) Names Position Amirah Shadia Bashir First Amani Aslam Khan Second Ahmed Abdullah Othman Basheer Third Khadija Omar Fourth Bader Abdullatif Adel Abdulgawad Fifth Winners (under - 10 years) Names Position Turki Yosef Rasheed Alofi First Ahmed Khaled Ahmed Saklou Second Maryam El Sayed Hany Ghander Third Zhra'a Mortada Jaafar Al Hamidi Fourth Hussein Hesham AL Yazedi Fifth __
