Tomorrow, another special doodle will grace Google’s homepage, and if you like it, compliments should be directed at third grader Makenzie Melton, not a team of professional designers. Melton has been declared the national winner of this year’s Doodle 4 Google competition.
The competition drew over 33,000 submissions, so Melton’s achievement is a rather big deal. Google will give her a netbook and a $15,000 college scholarship by way of congratulations, and you can see her doodle (called "Rainforest Habitat") for yourself a little early below.
This competition was designed to be a positive experience for a number of children, and not just Melton, though. In an email to WebProNews, a Google representative explained that 40 regional finalists got to attend an awards ceremony where "[t]he students heard from some of this year’s expert jurors who are well-known illustrators, cartoonists, and animators from organizations such as Disney, The Sesame Street Workshop, Charles Schulz/The Peanuts Gang, and Barbie/Mattel."
The representative also wrote, "The students then visited the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City, where the 40 finalists’ doodles will be showcased in a national exhibit which will run from May 27 to August 15, 2010."
Finally, Google intends to give Melton’s school in El Dorado Springs, Missouri a $25,000 technology grant to cap off the competition.