Rebecca Wu is one step away from gaining Google homepage fame — and some serious cash.
Rebecca, a student at the International School in Bellevue, Wash., has reached the final five in the annual “Doodle for Google” contest. She now has a chance to win a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology grant for her school, and prime placement for her artwork on the tech giant’s homepage for a day.
Four judges will determine the overall winner, to be announced on Tuesday.
The contest theme for K-12 students was “I am grateful for …,” and Google said tens of thousands of artists of all ages submitted entries in the 15th annual contest.
Rebecca was the Washington state representative among works from 55 U.S. state and territory winners. Her piece titled “My Sweetest Memories” was featured in the grade 6-7 category.
The artwork depicts Rebecca with her two sisters, sipping hot chocolate in a garden where vines and flowers spell out the word Google. Rebecca described her piece like so:
My Sweetest Memories
Sometimes I love them, and sometimes I dislike them very much, but I can’t imagine my life without my sisters. I have learned to be a little bit more patient with them, and they have had an enormous impact on me. We help to inspire each other and to help each other grow like the vines and flowers in my picture. I am never lonely with them, and they can cheer me up. I am grateful for them and all that they have done for me. In this drawing, we are having a fun time drinking hot chocolate, which is one of my fondest memories. The rainbow in the background symbolizes one the first things I helped one of my sisters draw. In one of my family pictures, my sisters (sitting next to me) and I (the one in the middle) are sitting in flowers with a background that I drew, so I thought it would be fun to reference that by drawing us sitting flowers here. The word “Google” is related with the stems of flowers and vines, also following the flower/garden theme. My drawing is composed of all our happiest memories to show just how grateful I am for them.
Google said submissions were evaluated on how well they addressed the prompt through both their artwork and written statement, plus overall artistic merit and creativity.
See the rest of the finalists here.
Finalists who do not become the National Winner will also receive prizes, including a $5,000 college scholarship, Google hardware, Google swag and have their Doodles featured on the Doodle for Google gallery, according to a news release.
