Irish children are being asked to get involved in this year’s Doodle 4 Google competition, where they can design a Google logo based on the theme of “I wish”.
The Doodle 4 Google competition is open to all primary and secondary school students across the Republic of Ireland.
The winning Doodle will appear on Google Ireland’s homepage for 24 hours in March 2012. Along with this, the student and their teacher will both win personal laptops and their school will win a €10,000 technology grant.
“We are really excited by this year’s theme ‘I wish’, which allows children to be as open and as creative as their imaginations will allow,” said John Herlihy, head of Google Ireland.
“At Google, innovation and creativity are at the heart of everything we do, so through the Doodle 4 Google competition we can encourage children to pursue these principals from the earliest possible age.
“We cannot wait to see the Doodles inspired by young people’s wishes; it could be playing rugby for Ireland, solving global warming, or going into space,” he said.
Last year’s winner
Six-year-old Layla Karpuz from Mary Mother of Hope Junior National School was last year’s winner.
“The Doodle 4 Google competition generated tremendous excitement among our school community and the children really identify with the theme every year,” said her principal Alma Moran.
“We were so excited when Layla was shortlisted and completely blown away when she was eventually chosen as overall winner.
“Both Layla and her teacher won a state-of-the art Dell laptop and with the grant for €10,000 we were able to further equip our school with the latest technology. The warm response from the local and wider community was fantastic and really put our school on the digital map,” said Moran.
Judging
A panel of judges from the arts will narrow down the entrants to 75 finalists. There are five categories which groups classes of similar ages with each other.
The panel includes Ray Yates, Dublin City Arts Officer, Gary Granville, professor of education at the National College of Art and Design and children’s author Tom McCaughren.
The 75 finalists will be displayed on the Doodle 4 Google website and the general public will vote for its favourite.
The top five Doodles – one from each category – will be then judged by the official Google Doodle team, whose members will select the overall winner.
Schools must register for the competition by 28 October and must submit entries by 9 December.
