For spectators, the 25th Annual Art Car Parade was over and done with when the last wacky vehicle crossed the finish line. But participants had to wait just a little longer to glean whether they would take home some of the $18,000 in awards and one of the handmade trophies bestowed by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Arts, the nonprofit which hosts the kooky procession.

The top dog prize — the Mayor's Cup and Grand Trophy, which carries a $2,000 bounty — went to Houston's own art car badass Mark "Scrapdaddy" Bradford.

His "Mr. Green" was skillfully crafted out of cast off materials. The creature, which seems like a character right out of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was like a marionette controlled by shifts, reins and levers.

Steve Brathwaite's "The Big Banana" doesn't fare well in inclement weather. When he drove the fruit-mobile down to Houston from Coopersburg, Pa., rains and high speeds did not make the ripe journey particularly delightful. But if the honor of hosting Mayor Annise Parker for a ride wasn't enough, Brathwaite is now $1,500 richer as one of the four First Place Art Car and Grand Trophy winners.

It's nearly impossible to imagine that prior to its metamorphosis into a fabulous, cheeky tropical edible that "The Big Banana" was once a 1993 Ford F150 pick up truck. The two years it took to peel off its layers were worth it as the cash prize will help the artist in his plans to parade it around the world to raise awareness for Deep Vein Thrombosis.

That a troupe of Jefferson Davis High School students under the guidance of art car maverick Rebecca Bass and robotics teacher Paloma Garner also scooped a first-place standing and earned a trophy is significant.

CultureMap visited the group prior to the parade to observe the installation of the many moving parts. The school's art car, "Earth, Wind and Fire... and Water," was outfitted with an in-house designed computer system operated by a fog machine, a water fountain, moving arms, rising yogis and blasting music.

Although lessons in teamwork, creativity and problem solving were the ultimate goals of the class project, adding this recognition is a cherry on top, something these students will never forget.

Also on the first-place, grand trophy roster are "Low Rider from Corpus Christie" by The Leal Brothers from Corpus Christi, a hot-pink sexy thing that waddled and grooved, and "The Gold Digger" by John Avanzini from Fort Worth, a party-boat-on-wheels that also featured pirates and one sexy pole dancer.

Other concoctions receiving honors included "Fried Chicken" by Bob Wink of Bellville; "Manvel High School Art Bikes" by Manvel High School, "Vanadu" by Clarke Bedford of Hyattsville, Md.; "The Tom Kennedy Space Bus" by Larry White, Adam Adams and Monica Acuna from Houston; "Melvin The World's Only Wacky Wheeler" by Robert Sommerbell of Madison, Wis.; "Driving + Texting = Wrexting" by Madeline and Paul Galindo of Houston; and "Chopper Shop” by Workshop Houston.

For a full list of this year's winners, with photos, click here.