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If you’re an artist, you may feel like scholarship opportunities are limited compared to those available to the sports phenoms and math whizzes of the world. It certainly does seem like there are fewer scholarships available for those who can draw, paint and express their emotions visually.
Fortunately, Google rewards students who are better with a sketchbook than with a Football or Lacrosse stick. Read on to learn how the Doodle for Google Competition scholarship works, how to enter and how to increase your odds of winning.
When you visit Google.com, you will often see a special illustration spelling out the word “Google.” These illustrations are made by Google illustrators and engineers. The picture may celebrate a specific holiday, honor someone’s birthday or mark an important moment in history. Some are more random, like celebrating the anniversary of the ice cream sundae.
The Doodle for Google Competition is a scholarship contest in which entrants create their own Google logo. Google will select multiple finalists, with one winner awarded a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology package for their school or non-profit organization. They also get some Google hardware and free swag. There will also be four other finalists who also get $5,000 scholarships. This is a one-time scholarship. Children between kindergarten and 12th grade are eligible to apply.
The Doodle for Google Competition invites artists to create an illustration based on a particular theme. For 2023, the topic is, “I am grateful for…” You can create a Doodle celebrating what you appreciate the most in life or what gets you through the tough times. The word “Google” should be incorporated somewhere in the drawing.
There will be a winner chosen from each U.S. state and territory, with 54 winners in total. Each of these winners will receive Google hardware and swag.
There will be one national finalist from each of the following grade groups:
The winner will be chosen out of those five finalists. The scholarship deadline is March 7, 2023 at 11:59 PST. The winner will be announced in June.
The submitted illustration must be completely original. You can be inspired by something you’ve done before, but make sure not to copy any previous artwork. You are also not allowed to use any logos or copyrighted images.
You can upload a JPEG or PNG version of your illustration to the online application. You can also choose to mail in your illustration to the following address:
Google, LLC
Doodle for Google
Spear Tower
1 Market Street, Ste 400
San Francisco, CA 94105-9868
Literally anyone can enter the contest starting in kindergarten and continuing all the way through middle school and high school. If you don’t win this year, you can always try again next year!
If your Google Doodle is chosen as your state or territory’s winner, you will be entered into a voting contest with all the other state and territory winners. The five illustrations with the most votes will be chosen as the five National Finalists.
Voting will take place over a five-day period, so you should encourage all of your friends, family members, loved ones and acquaintances to vote for you.
Google keeps an archive of previous doodle winners so you can see what they’ve selected in the past. This lets you get a better idea of how each winner interpreted the question they had to answer.
The quality of the piece isn’t the only thing that matters. You also have to answer the question: what are you grateful for? Take some time to write down several answers and then find a way to incorporate one or more of those into an illustration. Google has some videos that can help you get started if you’re unsure how to begin.
You can also brainstorm possible ideas with a current or former art teacher, who may be able to look at sketches with you.