Shermaine YeoPeople around the world are almost as excited to discover how Google has consistently and ingenously and rendered its name using day-appropriate symbols and images, as they are with the search results. The Doodle 4 Google competition, which invites users to share this creative exercise and which has piqued the creativity of contestants from the United Kingdom, Australia, USA and China, is open to Singaporeans for the first time.
Image from google.com: 2009 Doodle 4 Google Australia winner
Image from google.com: 2009 Doodle 4 Google US winner
Image from google.com: 2009 Doodle 4 Google China winner
The inaugural run of the contest on the island kicked off on Jan 19, with a doodling workshop for students from various levels of study. Based on a theme that coincides with this year’s National Day, about 20 pupils from primary, secondary and tertiary institutions had 1 hour to come up with a design that illustrates their idea of ‘Our Singapore’.
Image courtesy of Google Singapore: Students with their creative doodles
Engrossed in adding the finishing touches to her doodle 5 mins before the workshop ends
Also with the launch of the competition, 12-year-old Ryan Lee, who published a 125-page book of original cartoon drawings entitled The Zoo, in March 2009, revealed his unique doodle for the creative challenge. The young cartoonist incorporated distinctively Singaporean delicacies in his doodle, which, according to him, was inspired by his mother. The other idea integrated into the illustration was given by Ryan’s father who said to him, “Why don’t you add an ‘I Love Singapore’?”
The Lion City is the first country in Southeast Asia to hold the Doodle 4 Google competition and this time it’s only open to students from 4 to 19 years. Of course, irresistible prizes are part of the package for the creator of the winning entry: the top doodle will be displayed on the Google Singapore homepage on National Day this year, and he/she gets to revel in “an all-expenses paid trip worth $10,000 to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, USA,” accompanied by a parent and a school representative.
Interested participants will have to submit their artistic entries by Feb 26 and they can fashion their doodles any way, be it “using pencils, crayons and even computer graphics”.
Googlers from the Singapore office will select 500 doodles from the pool of entries, after which, a panel of local judges will appraise the works to pick out 50 finalists across 5 age groups. Public voting will then decide the victors of the 5 categories. The board of appraisers include ex-Google engineer Chade-Meng Tan, creator of the weekly comic strip “CHEW ON IT!” Lee Chee Chew and winner of the President’s Young Talents 2009 award Vertical Submarine.
The talented and lucky winner who would like to take a trip to Google’s headquarters will have to impress Dennis Hwang, the very first Google Doodler, with a doodle that stands out from 50 other qualifying entries.
For more information about Doodle 4 Google, visit www.google.com.sg/doodle4google.