Canadian Kids Win Worldwide Auto Art Contest

Two Canadian kids have won gold and silver medals in an automotive art contest organized by Toyota that garnered more than 825,000 entries from around the world.

Ryan Liang, 10, and 13-year-old Noelle Yau, both from Vancouver, won the gold and silver medals in their respective age categories for drawings the contest judges felt demonstrated creative ways cars will fit into our future lives.

Liang's piece, titled Suitcase Car, shows a single-seat vehicle capable of levitation and designed to help people escape natural disasters that folds away into a lightweight and portable package.

Yau's drawing imagines a mobile library packaged in a vehicle that uses its ability to travel by air, land or water to make knowledge accessible to everyone in the world.

Contest sponsor Toyota presented Liang and Yau with their awards in Japan, after awarding they and their parents trips to Tokyo for sightseeing and tours of Toyota facilities.

Toyota says the was conceived to "inspire creativity in children around the world and strengthen the importance of having dreams, while providing an opportunity to develop an interest in cars."