Doodle 4 Google: Search engine offers children chance to design their own inspirational logo

Winning drawing on theme of hope will feature on Google's homepage for a whole day in 2019

Google is offering US schoolchildren the chance to design their own Doodle to appear on its homepage.

The Google Doodle sees the Silicon Valley search giant periodically replace its familiar logo with a sketch, often animated, to celebrate a public figure on an anniversary associated with them or their achievements.

Doing so offers an opportunity to champion figures from the arts and sciences who have distinguished themselves through innovation or by blazing a trail for others and deserve to be better known.

The drawing links through to a wealth of information about its subject, boosting demand for biographies of the likes of Mary G Ross, Valdemar Poulsen and Mestre Bimba.

This year’s theme is “hope”, with entrants asked to submit a design based on their personal wishes for the future.

“Classrooms on Mars? Shoes that can fly? Food for everyone? A pill that cures everything? Take your ideas and put them into your Doodle!” the company suggests.

Kids who would like to get involved have until 8pm Pacific Time on 19 March 2019 to upload a .jpg or .png file of their design, which can be made from any art materials they choose, with a completed entry form and a short artist’s statement explaining the intention behind their work. Full details of the competition and its rules are available here.

The best drawing will be chosen by a panel of judges including Mandy Manning, 2018’s National Teacher of the Year; Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC’s The Tonight Show; and the one and only Kermit the Frog, an amphibian who needs no introduction.

The trio will be judging the submissions based on artistic merit, application of the theme and - somewhat crucially - the incorporation of all the letters spelling out the word “Google”.

The winner’s work will be displayed on Google.com for a day, while the artist will receive a $30,000 college scholarship, $50,000-worth of technology for their school, a trip to Google’s headquarters in California, a selection of hardware and unspecified “fun Googley swag”.

Good luck!