Yingling Encourages Local Students to Compete in Doodle 4 Google 2014 Contest

HAINESVILLE, Ill. – Today state Rep. Sam Yingling, D-Hainesville, invited all K-12 students in the 62nd District to create a Google doodle for the opportunity to win a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for his or her school. The opportunity comes with the launch of Google’s 2014 Doodle 4 Google Contest, which gives students across the U.S. the chance to display their own Google doodle on www.google.com.

“Doodle 4 Google is a great example of a public-private partnership that encourages creative thinking and offers unique opportunities to the students of the 62nd District,” said Yingling. “I want to make every student, parent, and teacher aware of this fun and educational way to help turn a young person’s vision into something the whole world may see.”

Google doodles are the fun versions of the Google logo that appear on the Google homepage throughout the year in celebration of special events and people. This year’s theme is “If I could invent one thing to make the world a better place…” Students can submit doodles until March 20th, 2014.

On April 29th, 2014, the 50 state winning designs will be announced. The public from across the U.S. can then vote for the best submitted doodle. State winners will be flown to Mountain View, CA for a national awards ceremony on May 21st, where the National Winner will be announced. The winning artist’s work will be displayed on the Google homepage for a day in June and the student will win a $30,000 college scholarship, along with a $50,000 Google for Education technology grant for his or her school. And for the first time ever, the winner will spend a day with the Google Doodle team to bring their doodle to life through animation.

There are three free lesson plans available for teachers who want to bring Doodle 4 Google into their classroom that include videos from Google’s own Doodlers and integrating technology by joining in a “Connected Classroom” – a Google Hangout on Air – where a Google Doodler will walk the class through the creative process for one of their personal favorite doodles, from idea to final creation.

Entry forms can be downloaded from Google’s Doodle 4 Google site and completed doodles can be submitted by mail or online. For more details, including full contest rules and entry forms interested students and teachers should visit www.google.com/doodle4google.

Yingling represents the 62nd District, which contains portions of Gages Lake, Grayslake, Hainesville, the Round Lake communities, Wauconda and Wildwood. For more information, please contact Yingling’s full-time constituent service office at 847-231-6262 or repsamyingling@gmail.com.