Arlington Student Named VA State Winner In Doodle For Google Contest

ARLINGTON, VA — An Arlington elementary school student was selected as the Virginia state winner of the 15th annual Doodle for Google contest, a competition that attracted tens of thousands of submissions from students across the country.

Sofia Kaarina Kurbat, a student at Innovation Elementary in Arlington, is one of 55 state and territory winners for her doodle titled “Thankful for my Teachers, Classmates and Community.”

Each of the 55 winners was sent Google hardware and swag. The Google Doodle is the artwork featured on Google's homepage.

With 2023 as her first year of school, Sofia said she loves going to school, learning new things, and enjoying the company of her classmates.

“This is the year I learned to read, and I'm thankful for my teachers being so encouraging,” Sofia said in her statement of gratitude. “I am also thankful for my supportive community, where everyone is welcome and everyone's special talents are recognized and celebrated. This what I tried to express in my Doodle.”

Voting is now open for the public to determine whether Sofia or one of the 54 other state and territory winners will go on to become one of the five national finalists, one of whom will be the national winner.

The public can visit doodle4google.com website to vote for their favorites in each of the five grade groups by clicking on a Doodle they like. Voting is open through Thursday, May 25.