Doodle lands Mumbai teen on Google homepage on Children’s Day

This year, 20 students were shortlisted for the finals of Doodle 4 Google contest . Pingla was selected as the winner by a team of judges and on the basis of more than 3, 00,000 votes from the public.

Thirteen-year old Pingla Rahul More loves doodling; she is always sketching in her notebooks. Little did the Class 8 student of JB Vachha School in Dadar know that this habit to squeeze in a doodle in every nook and crany here and there, would win her a national award as part of the Doodle 4 Google contest.

Thirteen-year old Pingla Rahul More has won a national award as part of the Doodle 4 Google contest. (HT Photo)

More’s entry was selected from among 75,000 submitted by students from across India. Her sketch, titled ‘Galaxy, Space, and Exploration’ became the doodle of the day for India on the Google homepage which celebrated Children’s Day. Google India had appealed students between Classes 1 and 10 to send their art work in response to this year’s theme – “What inspires me?”

As Google declared its winners on Wednesday, More found herself being pleasantly surprised. “I am a big doodle enthusiast but I never thought that my idea could win the best doodle prize. It’s a wonderful feeling to see the image I made on screens across the country for an entire day.”

While describing her doodle, which has a girl looking through the telescope, Pingla said her idea was to illustrate the expanse of opportunities that exist in life. “Like a galaxy and the planets, there are no limits to what one can explore in the universe,” said Pingla, who wants to take up art as a profession in future.

This year, 20 students were shortlisted for the finals. Pingla was selected as the winner by a team of judges and on the basis of more than 3, 00,000 votes from the public. She also won a Galaxy, Space, and Exploration” ₹500,000 scholarship. Her school received a ₹2,00,000 technology award.

Google has also announced group winners for Class 1 to 10. Shaikh Rizwan from Crescent English High School in Thane won the award in Class 1-2 category. Dhwanit Nagar, a Class 10 student of Swami Vivekanand International School in Kandivli won the group award from the Class 9-10 category. “I used animals in my doodle as they are really inspirational for me. Unlike individuals who fight, animals live in harmony,” said Nagar.