The 2020 Doodle for Google national finalists are here
When we opened the Doodle for Google contest in January of this year, we couldn’t wait to see all of the fantastic doodles that students across the country would submit for our 2020 theme “I Show Kindness By...”. We received tens of thousands of submissions from students in all 50 states, as well as Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Today, it's so important to show kindness and compassion, and this year's contestants shared the multitude of ways they demonstrate empathy in their communities.
After carefully reviewing all of the submissions, we announced our 54 state winners and opened up public voting on our website. And today we are happy to share that the votes are in and the judges have deliberated. We’re ready to announce our five national finalists for the 2020 Doodle for Google contest!
Our finalists were chosen based on a combination of our judging criteria (which includes artistic merit, creativity and how well participants communicated the theme in their artwork and written statement), as well as the results of public voting. Each of these artists truly committed to spreading a unique and powerful message of kindness, so let’s meet our finalists:
K-3 National Finalist: MacKenna Hughes
Honolulu, Hawaii
Title: I show kindness by picking up trash & microplastics on the beach
Artist Statement: “In my artwork, I repurposed trash that I collected from my favorite beach. Animals eat these microplastics and they can kill them or make them very sick.”
4-5 National Finalist: Sharon Sara
Frisco, Texas
Title: Together As One
Artist Statement: “I show kindness by sticking together with my friends in tough times. I drew people coming together and not thinking about the outside but being together because of their personality.”
6-7 National Finalist: Yewon Lee
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Title: We're All Neighbors
Artist Statement: “I show kindness by treating all different kinds of people as my neighbor.”
8-9 National Finalist: Gwenith Madhan
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Title: Kindness & Captions
Artist Statement: “I show kindness by...not engaging in negativity on social media, and instead focusing on using positive, kind words to lift people up and add a smile to their face everyday.”
10-12 National Finalist: Morrah Burton-Edwards
New Orleans, Louisiana
Title: Love Made Visible
Artist Statement: “Kindness is love made visible, so I show kindness by showing my family I love them. But also, when I show strangers and others that I care about them even when they are unkind to themselves is me being kind. A simple act of kindness like a hug can light up someone's day. But most importantly, I show kindness by loving those even when they are unkind to me. That is the most important time to be kind and the most difficult, but those people need kindness the most.”
Congratulations again to MacKenna, Sharon, Yewon, Gwenith and Morrah! As National Finalists, our student winners will receive a $5,000 college scholarship, Google hardware for the school year and some fun Googley swag. Check out their artwork, along with all 54 of the state winners on our website gallery.
In the next and final stage of the contest, our judging panel will determine which of our five national finalists will be chosen as the national contest winner. The winner’s artwork will be featured on Google’s homepage for 24 hours, they’ll receive a $30,000 scholarship and a $50,000 technology package for their school.
Good luck to our national finalists, and stay tuned to find out who our 2020 contest winner is!
