Don't miss the latest stories
Google Crowns Its Winning Doodle, Designed By 7-Year-Old During A Power Outage
By Mikelle Leow, 21 Jun 2018

Image via Mano Kors / Shutterstock.com
Here’s a glimmer of positivity among the heavy news reportings you might have come across of late: Google has crowned a seven-year-old as the US winner of its annual ‘Google 4 Doodle’ (G4D) contest.
Sarah Lane-Gomez, a first grader at Pine Spring Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia, has been awarded a US$30,000 college scholarship and US$50,000 in technology funds for her school for a dinosaur-themed sketch she created during the ‘Monster Nor’Easter’ snowstorm in March.
School was canceled on 2 March 2018, and with no electricity at home, Lane-Gomez’s mother—Maria Lane-Gomez—browsed through her phone, which was still working, for ideas to keep her child busy. She came across Google’s art contest, but it was closing submissions that very day.
The extremely tight deadline meant Sarah had to spend all day working on her drawing. When night fell, her parents took her to a nearby Applebee’s, where electricity was on, to finish up on her piece.
The theme for this year’s contest was ‘What Inspires Me’, and she chose dinosaurs. The girl’s masterpiece depicted a group of dinosaurs, as well as a shovel, whose form spell the word, “Google.”
“The things on my doodle are my favorite dinosaurs,” explained the first grader. “Dinosaurs inspire me to study more to be a paleontologist. The shovel is for my future job!”
When announcing the winner, Google said, “We immediately fell in love with Sarah’s creative interpretation of the ‘D4G’ theme, her use of dinosaurs to depict the Google logo, and her big ambitions for her future career, especially at such a young age.”
“We hope that her design will inspire other students to explore aspects of STEM or the arts that spark their imagination.”
An animated version of Lane-Gomez’s adorable typographic ‘Dino Doodle’ will make its appearance on the Google homepage this year. Check out her illustration below.

Image via Google
[via Quartzy, images via various sources]
Receive interesting stories like this one in your inbox
Also check out these recent news