Cast Your Vote!

Take a look at the 40 regional finalists, selected from 400 state finalists, for this year's U.S. Doodle 4 Google contest. This year, there were a record number of submissions — more than 107,000 from talented student artists from every state across the country. From Stilwell, Oklahoma, to Woodinville, Washington, Googlers are visiting the schools of the regional finalists to celebrate their incredible artwork along with thousands of their teachers, friends and classmates.

The doodle team, volunteer Googlers and guest judges helped determine the 40 regional finalists. Whoopi Goldberg and Jim Davis, Garfield the Cat's creator, among others lent a hand to help decide the top doogles. Now comes one of the most exciting parts of the contest, accordign to Google -- your votes! From now until May 13 at 11:59 p.m. PDT, you can cast your online votes for your favorite doodle (one vote for each of the four grade groups). On May 19, Google will announce the national winner at our awards ceremony in New York City. The national winner will receive a $15,000 college scholarship and $25,000 towards a new computer lab for his or her school, and the winning design will appear on google.com on Friday, May 20. All of the top 40 regional finalists will also have their work publicly displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and at SFMOMA in San Francisco.

Image: Google

Doodle for Google

The Doodle 4 Google contest took place in March, and the dateline was March 31st. The winner's photo was on the Google homepage yesterday (May 27th, 2010). Mackenzie Melton, in 3rd grade at El Dorado Springs, in El Dorado Springs, Missouri. She won for the kindergarten through 3rd grade group, at the age of 9. She said, "I chose this doodle because the rainforest is in danger and it is not fair to the plants and animals. I love everything except spiders and snakes, but I would still save them." Her design won from over 33,000 contestants.

I think that this picture got chosen, because it took time to make, and it was a good theme. If I were a judge, I would have chosen this. Also, the image is pretty and colorful, unlike some other pictures. This was a wonderful picture to have been drawn by a nine year old. I think it's interesting how that the "e" at the end of Google, was a snake, even though Mackenzie doesn't like snakes. Her picture was creative and outside of the box. Now you think about what you would want to draw, and for what reason, if you had entered the contest.

She won her picture to be the Google homepage from yesterday, a $15,000 collage scholarship, a netbook computer, and a $25,000 for her schools computer system.

For more information about the school, visit this site.

For more information about Doodle 4 Google, visit this site.

Below is a montage of the Google video:

Get Ready to Doodle 4 Google

Google is making a contest, called Doodle 4 Google, for people who are in grades K-12. If you are in those grades, you could customize the Google logo. If you win you get $15,000 for collage, a trip to the Google New York Office, a laptop computer, a T-shirt with their design on it, and a $25,000 donation to your school's computer lab from Google. And the top 40 designs would be on display at the Smithsonian National Museum.

Last year, Hillwood Academic Day School entered in this contest, but we did not win. This year we are thinking of entering again, to see how far we can get. This year, the subject for Doodle 4 Google is, what I want for the world.

Registration for the contest closes at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on March 17, 2010, and entries are due by March 31, 2010 no later than 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time. The winning picture will be featured on our Google.com homepage on May 27, 2010. For more information, read this page on Google. To look at some of last year's finalist, read and watch Camyrn's Herald post.

Doodle 4 Google

Doodle 4 Google is a contest that students in the U.S.A. can enter. The grades kindergarten through 12th grade can enter. All of Hillwood entered the contest at the end of the school year last year, but none of them won.

I have selected some of the finalist's drawings for you to view. The people who drew took their time and did as hard as they could. I think everybody did grea,t but there was a few that stood out from all of them.

I would encourage every kid [K-12] to enter, because it is a good way to fell good about your work and your self.

If you would like to know more about the contest and how to enter, read Julian F.'s article.

Doodle for Google

Student Assignment: Camryn

Write about the results of the Doodle for Google contest. You can read Google's blog post about the contest here.

Remember to answer the five W's of a good story (who, what, when, where, why) when you are writing your story (aim for about 300 words). Also, show (and tell) readers which images you like best and why.

You should also create an Animoto video that highlights all of your favorite designs from the contest.