Kid Car Design Contest: Get Ready For Dinosaur Jet Sleds And Convertibles Fit For Fairy Princesses

"We want to ignite a passion for design among American children and also raise money to help families cope with serious illnesses." Thus spake Carroll Shelby, announcing his partnership with Road & Track and the Automotive Fine Arts Society to sponsor the sixth annual Kids Automotive Art Contest, which has been on hiatus since 2002. A modest $5 entry fee will fund Shelby's foundation, which combats children's illnesses worldwide. So, got an aspiring little Chris Bangle or J Mays frolicking about the house? Get them to stop scribbling their budding "form vocabularies" on the living room wall and put 'em to work dreaming up the car or truck they'd drive "when they grow up." The grand prize ain't chump change: a $5000 savings bond.

A variety of competitive categories, from K-12, means an almost incomprehensible range of possible submissions. What, for example, would the judges gathered at L.A.'s Petersen Automotive Museum on April 19 make of my five-year-old's "flaming monster truck," depicted above? Bring on the motorized My Little Pony rollers, the jet-assisted coupes decked out with Spider Man's color scheme, and, if they're worth their salt at the upper end, lots of rigs suitable for Harry, Ron and Hermione. If I put my daughter on it, I'll likely see a Winnebago of sparkling pink with wheels shaped from cotton candy. Check out all the details here.