Every year the Google holds a contest for anyone from grade K-12 to show case their artistic abilities and come up with Google’s homepage logo for millions to see. Every year there is a new theme. 2011’s was “What I want to be someday” and 2012’s is “If I could travel in time i’d visit…”. Google has designed over 300 doodles in the U.S. and over 700 internationally. Google’s logos are used to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists.
The judges pick state and regional finalists. The one national winner is awarded a $15,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice, a trip to the Google New York office, a laptop computer, a Wacom digital design tablet, and a t-shirt printed with their doodle on it. Google also awards the winner’s school or After School Program a $25,000 technology grant towards the improvement of a computer lab or technology programming. The top three national finalists win an educational grant that can be used at the school of their choice, a trip to the Google New York office, a Wacom digital design tablet, and a t-shirt printed with their doodle on it. The top 40 regional finalists win a trip to the Google New York office and a t-shirt printed with their doodles on it. All 40 Regional Finalists will also have their doodle displayed in a special exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The top 400 state finalists win a Doodle 4 Google t-shirt, official winner’s certificate, and have their doodle featured on the Doodle 4 Google contest web site. According to www.google.com/doodle4google.
The contest has different groups separated by grades. They have K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. There are also 10 regions. New York is in Region 2 along with New Jersey and Pennsylvania. According to www.google.com/doodle4google.
This contest gives people a chance to shine and win a few things. So many people enter and it is so much fun just to come up with ideas even if you can’t enter them in the end. Last year 20,000 schools entered and there were 33,000 entries. There have only been four years of the contest but it has been very successful. Doodle 4 Google is a fun contest for kids of all ages and allows them to win some nice things and even money for college.