Google has announced its second annual Doodle for Google contest. Last year’s theme for Doodle for Google was “What If.” The 40 finalist Doodles from last year can be viewed here.
What is a Google Doodle?
It is a special “dressed up” Google logo. Google uses these Doodle logos on its home page for special events and holidays. Millions of people all over the world will see the Google Doodle. Besides the other contest awards, having your Doodle seen by millions of people is the most exciting part of the contest.
The Doodle for Google contest is open to students in kindergarten through the twelfth grade for registered schools. Each school can submit up to six Doodles. So students, if you are interested in this contest, talk to your teachers and make sure that your school is registered. Schools have until March 17, 2009 to register. All submissions must be in to Google by March 31, 2009.
This year’s Doodle for Google contest theme is “What I Wish for the World.” Google is looking for creativity and wants to see how children picture what they want their world to look like.
Google provides some example statements for guidance on how the theme “What I Wish for the World” might be represented by the students in their pictures. Per Google, some example statements are “I wish we could use plants for electricity; I wish we could make college free for everyone; I wish we could give health insurance to all who need it; and, I wish we could connect everyone by cell phone or computers.” These statements are just a guide to get the students thinking, not statements that are required to be used. Because one of the things the Google Doodle submissions will be judged on is creativity, it would be best to use your own statement.
Besides creativity, the other factors the Google Doodles will be judged on, according to Google, is the artistic merit (this will be based on grade level skills), how well the Theme “What I Wish for the World” is used and integrated with the Google logo, and the appropriateness of the statement used.
Google has partnered with the Smithsonian’s, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum for this contest, so this year’s forty finalists will have their Google Doodles exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum.
If that is not enough to excite you, there is a $15,000 college scholarship, a trip to New York, a laptop computer and a tee-shirt with their Doodle for the national winner. The school of the national winner will receive a $25,000 prize toward a school computer lab. A $10,000 prize will be awarded to the school district submitting the most high quality entries.
Source: Doodle 4 Google, http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/doodle-4-google-tell-us-what-you-wish.html
