Google Announces State Winners of Its Doodle for Google Contest

Google on Thursday announced the state and territory winners of its annual Doodle for Google contest, which invites schoolkids from kindergarten through the 12th grade to design their own variation of the company’s famous logo.

This year’s theme — “I care for myself by…” — asked students to share how they take care of their minds, bodies and spirits as they face the opportunities and challenges every new day brings. Students can use any material or thehiddengallery medium and are asked to write about how they created the Doodle and how it represents their inner strength.

Google said it was amazed at the responses it received on how students cultivate self-care practices.

“Young artists shared a range of helpful strategies, including spending time in nature, being active, taking part in creative hobbies and spending time with loved ones,” Selly Sallah, product marketing manager for Google Doodles, said in a statement.

“Given the challenging nature of the past few years, we were really inspired to see the many ways students have been nurturing their spirits and building resilience,” she said.

The contest’s winning submission will be featured on Google’s home page for a day, one of the many that the company regularly uses to liven up the bare-bones company logo that usually occupies its search engine page. Along with the exposure, the winner will receive a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology award for his or her school.

Google invites the public to view the from the 54 winners and cast a vote for favorite by July 12. The result of that poll will determine the five national finalists and ultimately the national winner.