After poring over 678 entries in our "Win your own Kanani" contest that had little girls designing an outfit for the American Girl doll Kanani Akina, we have our winners.

Chanel Tanoue, age 7-and-11/12ths, of Mililani, is the winner of our age 8 and younger category for her flower and monstera design over a field of blue.

In coloring her dress, Tanoue, who’s danced hula since age 4, said, "I kinda looked at my hula dress and thought of the idea."

She worked hard to win after falling in love with Kanani "because she looks beautiful and she’s Hawaiian."

Kyla Smith, age 12, of Honolulu, is the winner of the ages 9 to 13 category, for her ruffled, off-the-shoulder dress with a hibiscus design.

Smith took her inspiration from her backyard, which is full of hibiscus, "and the Hawaii state flower is the hibiscus, so I decided on that."

She doesn’t sew, but enjoys drawing animals and people, especially girls. The doggie in the basket in her illustration was inspired by her pet Chihuahua, Pika.

The style of dress was inspired by the Hawaiian holomuu and its romantic, feminine tier of ruffles. "I just like that kind of dress," she said.

We knew that the first American Girl doll from Hawaii, specifically Kauai, would be popular, but we didn’t expect such a flood of entries.

It was really tough to judge because all of the girls did a fantastic job with their entries, with many going beyond drawing the dress to putting thought into detailed accessories, many of which we wish we could have for ourselves!

Helping us to narrow the field were two guest judges, Mi Cielo’s Kayo Master and Moopiland’s Keiko Knudson, both of whom have exuberant and fun children’s wear designs that have led to them to expand to adults due to popular demand.

As an additional prize, Master will be awarding her own "Thank You for Being Different" prize to ‘Aulani Oka, age 11, of Kailua, for her one-of-a-kind shave-ice costume. Other judges didn’t think many girls would want to dress Kanani up this way, but sometimes, you have to reward original thinkers. ‘Aulani will receive her choice of one of Master’s T-shirts.

We also weren’t planning to offer second- and third-place prizes, but due to the outstanding entries, we will be awarding an American Girl plush monk seal to the second-place finishers and an American Girl book to the third-place finishers. Prizes came courtesy of the Kauai Visitors Bureau and American Girl.

They are:
Second place
8 and younger: Akiko Tajima, 7, of Honolulu
Age 9 to 13: Caleigh Maciel, 10, of Kauai

Third place
8 and younger: Allison Leclerc, 8, of Honolulu
Age 9 to 13: Cassidy Watanabe, 12, of Honolulu