Doodle for Google

Ireland's top doodlers in the 'Doodle for Google' competition announced!

Congratulations to:

Group 1: Ellen Hayden, Scoil Bhride, Ballyboy, Co Offaly

Group 2: Savannah Bergin, Scoil Rois, Galway

Group 3: Ciara Hayley, Loreto Community School, Milford, Co Donegal

Group 4 and OVERALL WINNER: Ruth Deeney, a fourth-year student, from Loreto Community School, Milford, Co Donegal

Look for Ruth's  futuristic-themed drawing on Wednesday, March 3 when the work goes live on the on internet giant Google’s homepage to be seen by millions! 

See all the winning doodles and the 80 finalists work on display at Science Gallery until March 4.

Read more about the contest in the Irish Times article 'Donegal Doodler Wins Google Prize'. 

About Doodle 4 Google

The Doodle 4 Google competition was launched in Ireland in October 2009. Open to all primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland, this year students were asked to create a doodle based on the theme 'My Future’. From time to time Google changes its logo to mark special events and these are known as doodles – the drawings that are designed on, around and through the Google logo on the company's home page.

Entries were accepted in 4 categories – two primary school categories and two secondary school categories.  Primary level, Group one comprises junior and senior infants, 1st and 2nd class.  Group 2 comprises 3rd, 4th, 5th 6th class.  Secondary level, Group 3 comprises 1st, 2nd and 3rd year and Group 4 comprises transition, 5th and 6th year and Youthreach. 

The expert judging panel included Katy Fitzpatrick, Education Curator with Hugh Lane Gallery and Beth Gormley, Events Officer with the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin.  The entries were judged on both artistic merit and how well students explained what the theme 'My Future’ means to them.

Along with having their doodle displayed on the Google home page in Ireland on March 3rd 2010, the winner will also receive a laptop for themselves and one for their teacher and the winning school will receive a €10,000 technology grant.

20 counties in Ireland are represented in the online vote and the regional finalists will need the public’s help in getting to the final stage of the competition.  The top doodle from each category as selected by the public will go through to the final stage when Michael Lopez, Chief Doodler and Google Webmaster will select the overall winner at a gala event at Google’s European headquarters in Dublin at the beginning of March.

For more information and to vote for the winning doodles click here. Site is available in both English and Irish.

About Google Inc.

Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets.  Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.ie. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.