Kelly’s bright doodle wows Google

An eight-year-old schoolgirl has beaten students more than twice her age to become the overall winner of this year’s Doodle 4 Google competition.

Beating tough competition from 74 other regional finalists, Kelly McCabe from Scoil Carmel Junior National School in Dublin was named the overall winner of the sixth annual contest.

Kelly’s winning doodle will now be seen by millions of users when it appears on the Google Ireland homepage tomorrow.

Kelly was presented with her award at a prize-giving ceremony in Google’s headquarters for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in Dublin yesterday. Professional Google doodler Katy Wu travelled from Google’s offices in Mountain View, California, to present Kelly with her prizes, which include a Chromebook and a €5,000 scholarship towards her studies.

Kelly’s school, in Firhouse, Dublin, will also receive a €10,000 technology grant from Google, with her teacher, Teresa Lea, also winning a Chromebook.

The theme of this year’s event was My Adventure. Kelly’s winning doodle, entitled My Adventure in the Jungle, was inspired by the jungle and used animals such as elephants, lions, and snakes to give the famous Google logo a creative twist.

Describing her doodle, Kelly said: “The jungle is where you can find lots of exciting things, just like Google.”

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms Wu said: “This is my first year to judge the Doodle 4 Google competition and I was blown away by the talent and creativity shown by the entries; it was a tough job trying to choose an overall winner.

“Kelly’s doodle stood out to me with its fun design and bright colours.”

John Herlihy, head of Google in Ireland said: “This is the sixth year of the competition and I continue to be overwhelmed each year by the level of public interest shown.

“This year, we recorded over 120,000 public votes from people voting for their favourite doodle. I would like to express a big thank you to those that voted, the teachers and parents involved, and most especially the 2,390 students who entered.”

The four other group winners are:

-Class Group 1 (ages 4 to 6) — Cian Mangan, Cloghan’s Hill National School, Tuam, Co Galway;

-Class Group 3 (ages 9 to 12) — Emma Doyle, Ballyduff National School, Camolin, Co Wexford;

-Class Group 4 (ages 13 to 15) — Naiara Abad Sanchez, Carndonagh Community School, Carndonagh, Co Donegal;

-Class Group 5 (ages 16 to 18) — Oisín O’Byrne, Ashbourne Community School, Ashbourne, Co Meath. lAll the 75 regional finalists’ doodles can be viewed at www.google.ie/doodle4google