Could Your Child Win a Doodle 4 Google Contest Scholarship?

Ever since the first Google doodle was created in 1999, they've created plenty of comments and attention for Google. The first official Google doodle was focused on the Burning Man festival and highlighted a stick figure placed between the second letter and third letter in the word Google, according to the official Google Doodle history page here. Since then, they've been used to focus on notable holidays, anniversaries of special events like the Olympics, and much more.

Doodle 4 Google Contest Offers Prizes of Scholarships, Laptops and More

In recent years, Google has opened up a contest for children, Doodle for Google. This year's Grand Prize winner in the "If I Could Do Anything, I Would" themed contest will win a laptop computer, $15,000 college scholarship, a trip to the Google New York office, Wiacom digital design tablet, and a t-shirt with the winning doodle on it. The winning student's school will get a $25,000 technology grant to start, improve or expand a computer lab.

No small prizes, these could well be the envy of an adult and any parent of a child talented enough to win the contest should be very proud indeed - and possibly very pleased to get that college scholarship money as well, with college costs being so high.

Since there were 4 national finalists, they each got laptop computers and other prizes. An extra bonus of 8 technology booster awards were handed out to certain schools which had entries received by March 10th. Selected schools could receive netbook computers.

Finalists of Doodle 4 Google U.S. Contest to Be Announced on May 26, 2010

This year's Doodle contest was focused around the theme of "If I Could Do Anything, I Would".... and children were encouraged to think about what they wanted out of life, how to change the world or perhaps cure a deadly illness. All doodles had to incorporate the Google logo as well as the theme of the contest. Judges included noted illustrator Eric Carle as well as Eric Harkness (from Walt Disney studios) as well as many other famed individuals. The deadline for this year's contest was extended an extra week, through March 24, 2010.

Regional finalists for this year's contest can be seen here .The regional finalists are be eligible for the national contest. The national prize winner receives a wealth of prizes as well as the honor of having the winning doodle highlighted on Google's homepage for 24 hours, starting on May 21st.

But Doodle 4 Google contests aren't limited only to the United States. One of the latest centers around the upcoming FIFA World Cup Football games (known as football in the United States, soccer is known as football in other countries). This is a global contest, centered on the theme "I Love Football" as indicated by the Google's New Zealand site here . This is the first Google global competition, making it a special moment in Google doodle history. The global competition is not open to residents of the United States but is open to children living in seventeen countries, from Australia to the United Kingdom.

What Parents, Teachers and Others Need to Know about Doodle 4 Google Contests

So what do parents and teachers have to do to make sure children and students have a chance to enter the Doodle 4 Google contest each year? First, check back on the Doodle 4 Google site here for updates and announcements, as well as checking Google press releases. Once the contest is announced, make sure that schools, including homeschools, know the rules and age groups for the competition. This year there were four different age group levels, covering kindergarten through grades 10-12. This allows school children of all ages to compete. Those interested in any upcoming contests can email doodle4goggle-ustream@google.com to find out how to get a heads up about more contests.

Stay in touch with schools and make sure teachers know about the contest and remember that homeschools may be eligible, as they were this year.

Sources:

Doodling for a Purpose at Ford Middle School, April 9, 2010, South Coast Today, here http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100409/EDU02/100409893/-1/EDU
Doodle 4 Google history, Google site, here http://www.google.com/doodle4google/history.html
Doodle 4 Google Football contest information here (New Zealand) http://www.google.co.nz/intl/en/lovefootball/doodle4google/
Doddle 4 Google regional finalists: here