Cheshire 3rd Grader Wins Google Contest

CHESHIRE, CT — A Cheshire third-grade student could have her art featured on the Google homepage for hundreds of millions to see after being named a winner of the company’s annual Doodle For Google competition. Google announced the state round winners on Thursday.

Natalia Pepe, a third grader at St. Bridget School, was named Connecticut winner with her doodle, “Farmers.” The selection joins 52 other state and American territory winners and was celebrated during a surprise assembly on Thursday morning. Ambassadors from Google unveiled Natalia’s artwork, and explained to students how to nominate it during the national round.

This year’s Doodle competition marks the 11th edition, open to K-12 students across the United States to redesign the Google logo for a day. This year’s prompt was “When I grow up, I hope…”, with judges including comedian Jimmy Fallon, 2018 National Teacher of the Year Mandy Manning as well as Kermit the Frog, according to a news release. Pepe’s Doodle statement was: “When I grow up, I hope there will be more farms and more people to grow their own food. I think people and our Planet would benefit from it.”

Fans across the U.S. can vote for their favorite doodle from the 53 state and territory winners. Voting will be open from June 3 through June 7 here, with the public determining the five national finalists (one in each grade group). Google will then announce those finalists shortly after, before ultimately selecting the national winner.

The national winner will receive a $30,000 college scholarship with his/her school additionally receiving a $50,000 tech package towards the establishment or improvement of a computer lab or STEM program. The national winner will also get a trip to Google’s headquarters in California, various Google hardware and Google merchandise. The four finalists who do not become the national winner will also receive a trip to California plus hardware and merchandise, in addition to $5,000 college scholarships.