Moorestown Students Doodling 4 Google

For the , Moorestown students have taken up Google’s "Doodle 4 Google" challenge, for the chance to have their drawing appear on the Google homepage.

Google has sponsored the contest five years running, giving school students across the country the opportunity to redesign the media giant’s homepage logo. 

“It’s adorable, because the prizes are huge and everyone comes in here like, ‘I’m gonna win this thing!’” said BJ Lemaire, a teacher at and elementary schools.

This year, all three Moorestown elementary schools and a graphic design class at are participating in the contest.

Lemaire said the Doodle contest is great because they like to give the children activities “that are creative, that are meaningful to them. Some of the contests are just, win tickets to a concert … This has real-world value. Design is such an important piece of everything.”

The activity also has a strong collaborative component as well, with teachers and students brainstorming Doodle ideas together, and more importantly, students working with students.

Though the contest is optional, Lemaire said roughly a third of the students from each elementary grade level (K-3) participated.

Google provides a theme each year to give students parameters for their Doodles. This year, it was “If I could travel in time, I’d visit …” Some students drew images from the future, others drew dinosaurs or vikings.

Entries are due next week. There will be 250 state finalists (one finalist from each state for each grade level—K-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, and 10-12). From there, the entries will be narrowed down to 50 state winners, then five national finalists, and finally one overall winner. The grand prize is a $30,000 college scholarship, $50,000 for the winner’s school, and, of course, their Doodle will appear on the homepage.  

For more information on the contest, visit the Doodle 4 Google website and watch a video featuring last year's winner (in the lower right-hand corner of the page).