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Doodle for Google Scholarship

Doodle for Google Scholarship
2/15/2024
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Zina Kumok

Zina Kumok is a personal finance writer and speaker with a background in financial literacy, student loans, credit scores, and investing. She's a three-time nominee and finalist for Best Personal Finance Contributor at the Plutus Awards. Zina paid off $28,000 in student loans in three years. Holding a bachelor's degree in journalism from Indiana University, she has worked for newspapers, magazines, and wire services. Her byline has appeared in Indianapolis Monthly, the Commercial Appeal, and the Associated Press, and as an expert, she's been featured in the Washington Post, Forbes, Fox Business, and Time. Additionally, Zina is a Certified Financial Health Counselor and Student Loan Counselor.

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.

What is the Doodle for Google Scholarship?

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 image 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 2024, the topic is, “My Wish for the Next 25 Years”. The idea would be to create a Doodle illustrating what you are hoping will transpire in the next quarter century. The word "Google" should be incorporated fairly obviously 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:

  • Kindergarten through third grade
  • Fourth and fifth grade
  • Sixth and seventh grade
  • Eighth and ninth grade
  • 10th through twelfth grade

The winner will be chosen out of those five finalists. The scholarship deadline is March 14, 2024 at 11:59 PST. The winner will be announced in June.

How to qualify for the Doodle for Google Competition Scholarship

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

How to maximize your chances of winning the Doodle for Google Competition

Apply Early

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!

Get Out the Vote

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.

Look at Previous Designs

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.

Make Sure to Answer the Prompt

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.

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