Children all over Ireland are being asked to get doodling for Google's annual
art competition. The theme for this is ‘I wish....' and students are encouraged to create a variation on the the Google logo based on this theme.
"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.
The winning doodle will be seen by millions of Internet users when it appears on the Google Ireland homepage for 24 hours in March 2012. In addition, the winning student and their teacher will both receive personal laptops, and their school will win a €10,000 technology grant. The five category winners and their teachers will also receive personal laptops.
A panel of expert judges from the arts world will help narrow down the thousands of entrants to 75 finalists, 15 from each category. The expert panel this year 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 five categories in the competition are: Junior and Senior Infants; First and Second Class; Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Class; First Year, Second Year, Third Year; and Transition Year, Fifth Year, Sixth Year.
The 75 finalists will then be displayed on the Doodle 4 Google website and the general public will vote for their favorite doodle. The top five doodles, one from each category, will then be judged by the official Google doodle team, who will select the overall winner.
Schools should register to take part in the competition by 28 October and must submit entries by 9 December.
TechCentral Reporters