Past winners of competitions such as this year's Autorama High School Design Competition got great experience as well as something for their resumes.

Chrysler is supporting budding auto designers in Detroit with the 2013 Autorama High School Design Competition and supporting the United Way for Southeastern Michigan at the same time.

The competition gives all high school students attending a Detroit public school the opportunity to explore their creative side and design a future luxury Chrysler brand vehicle they envision for 2030. The winners will be announced as part of the kickoff for the 61st annual Autorama custom car show at Cobo Center in Detroit in March.

Managed by the Chrysler Group Product Design Office in Auburn Hills, Mich., student entrants are encouraged to draw inspiration from Detroit’s history and passion for the automobile, while reflecting the Chrysler Group’s popular “Imported from Detroit” marketing campaign.

Could Chrysler find a future automotive design star? Possibly.

“This year, our product design team has been looking at creative ways to further support United Way for Southeastern Michigan as part of our overall corporate initiatives to help improve lives for people and communities in need,” said Ralph Gilles, Chrysler’s senior vice president for product design. “With additional help from the College for Creative Studies and one of the best custom car shows in the world – our own Detroit Autorama – we’ll hopefully inspire some new and aspiring automotive designers right here in our own backyard.”

Gilles earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the College for Creative Studies and serves on the CCS Board of Trustees and Capital Committee.

Student entries must be submitted by 5 p.m. (EST) Friday, Feb. 8 to the school’s designated teacher or counselor.

Submissions must be hand drawn on a single sheet of 14-inch x 16–inch paper with the use of pencil, markers or paint and include the student’s name, school, grade level and contact information.

The judging panel will include designers from the Chrysler Group Product Design Office, along with faculty from CCS and Detroit Autorama.

“Transportation design is an important program to CCS’s educational environment and to the life of the auto industry as a whole,” said Mark West, Paul and Helen Farago Chair of Transportation Design at CCS. “Initiatives like the ‘Autorama High School Design Competition’ help us sustain the growth of the program. An important feat, in part, because our program supplies more automotive designers to the industry than any other school in the world.”

Winners of the competition – which is broken into underclassmen and seniors – will get an iPad, summer automotive design courses at CCS and passes to Autorama. Seniors will

Finalists receive iPads, summer automotive design course at CCS and three passes to Detroit Autorama. Senior class finalists will also get a tour of Chrysler’s Product Design Office. Also, the first-place-winning senior will get a $5,000 scholarship to CCS, if accepted to the school.