Car Designs Earn Trip To Japan For Area Girls

They might be too young to drive, but area youths have proven they have no trouble designing what their dream car would look like.

Toyota Hawaii announced the local finalists of Toyota’s 2013 Dream Car Art Contest last month. Among them are Alyssa Kainuma, 8, of Kanoelani Elementary School, who won the under 10 category, and Kayla Mae Cuizon, 12, of Ilima Intermediate School, who was a finalist in the 10-12 category.

Kainuma and Cuizon competed against 600 other youths who submitted art to the contest, and they are among only nine finalists in the state.

“We received double the amount of entries from last year’s contest! It gives us great pleasure to submit our finalists’ artwork into the World Contest, where I believe they will stack up well,” said Glenn Inouye, senior vice president of Toyota Hawaii. “We were thrilled that the community responded so favorably not only to this year’s general contest, but the People’s Choice Competition. We received more than 4,200 votes through Toyota Hawaii’s Facebook page.”

Winners in each category won an iPad Mini, and all other finalists received $150.

Kainuma and Cuizon will join the finalists for an all-expenses-paid trip to Japan in August to compete in the World Contest. Their trip will take them to Japan’s Toyota City to meet with Toyota Motor Corp. president and executive vice president.

Readers can view their designs, along with the semi-finalists’ entries, at the Honolulu Museum of Art School through May 27.

Toyota’s Dream Art Contest was created in 2004 to provide an opportunity for children to understand the importance of having a dream, encourage them to become interested in cars and use their imagination.