Doodle4Google concludes its sixth year with ‘A place in India I wish to visit’

Google India announced Vaidehi Reddy as the winner of this year’s Doodle design competition. Chosen amongst 12 finalists, the resident of Pune was felicitated at an event in New Delhi.

The Doodle4Google competition, an annual Google India property, was launched in 2009 and is open to students from grades 1 to 10, who are invited to design the Google Doodle to celebrate Children’s Day in the country. The theme for this year’s competition was ‘A place in India I wish to visit’, which saw record breaking entries of over 1 million, from more than 1700 schools across 50 cities! The final 12 Doodles were shortlisted and put up for online voting. Google’s National Jury Political cartoonist Ajit Ninan, Art Director Children's Publishing at ACK Media Savio Mascarenhas and Google Doodle team lead Ryan Gerick, then selected the National Winner from these 12 finalists.

“Doodle4Google is the perfect platform for the youth of India to showcase their talent on an international platform. It allows youngsters from not only the metros but from Tier II, III and even IV cities to participate, which is evident from the entries seen this year. The response of over 1 million entries is indeed overwhelming and the talent which has surfaced through the entries is remarkable. We at Google are extremely encouraged by the fact that entries this year have come from across the country which is a clear indication that we are well underway to taking the Internet to the next billion,” said Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director, Google India.

The winning Doodle titled ‘Natural and Cultural Paradise - Assam” was live on the Google (India) homepage on November 14, Children’s Day and reflected  the artistic merit, creativity, and expression of the theme. All the finalists received a certificate of achievement and a Chromebook laptop.