Reina Daeun Lee, a student at North Gwinnett Middle School, has been selected as a state finalist in Google’s 15th annual Doodle for Google contest.
Doodles are the creative, artistic changes made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, pioneers and scientists.
For its 2023 contest, Google asked K-12 students to illustrate the prompt “I am grateful for …” incorporating the word Google into their artwork. Reina’s Doodle is titled “Eat, Sleep, Slay, Gymnastics Repeat.” It depicts six gymnasts spelling out the word Google with their unique poses.
“I drew gymnastics on beam — the colors and shapes in the background show how I feel during gymnastics: excited, confident, and strong,” Reina says. “I’m grateful for gymnastics, because it makes me feel powerful.”
Reina is one of 55 students selected as state finalists.
“Tens of thousands of submissions poured in, with artists of all ages sharing their stories of gratitude,” a Google blog post reads. “They explored their love for their families, enjoyment of nature and its creatures, appreciation of life-saving essential workers, favorite hobbies and so much more. Our judges were delighted to see the range of creative ways students explored the prompt.”
Submissions were judged on the following criteria:
- Artistic merit — Based on artistic skill
- Creativity — Representation of the contest theme, use of the letters in the Google logo and the unique approach to the Doodle
- Theme communication — How well the contest theme is expressed in both the artwork and the written statement
Each state finalist received Google hardware and swag, and the company organized special surprise announcements in their hometowns so their families, friends and school communities could celebrate their creations in real life.
Each of the 55 state finalists’ Doodles were shared online for the public to vote for their favorites, and five national finalists were announced May 30.
