Mahatma Gandhi, the Taj Mahal or Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan drawn by schoolchildren may soon feature in specialised homepage logos in popular search engine Google on festive occasions in India.
Specialised logos based on the theme ‘My India’ will feature on the special days including national holidays and other festive occasions, according to Google India.
These logos will be selected from the ‘Doodle 4 Google’ competition, where schoolchildren across the country will be asked to “think about what is India and what it means to them,” and then represent their vision pictorially, Arvind Desikan, Head of Consumer Marketing, Google India said.
The contestants may include any aspect of India that may mean something to an individual, Desikan said, adding that the organisers do not want to restrict the theme.
“We do not want to restrict the theme. We believe that the concept ‘My India’ is a personal one. We are one billion people and we have each experienced India in our own special way,” he said.
“Whether it’s cricket, the Taj Mahal, Amitabh Bachchan, Mahatma Gandhi, Bharatanatyam, Aryabhatta... we want this young generation to tell us what they think through a doodle,” he said.
“The competition seeks to celebrate the talent and the spirit of Indian children. The winners’ doodles will be displayed on Google’s homepage for millions of people to see.”
Desikan said the competition will bring out the artist in every child, and that he hopes to harness their talent.
“Young children with a passion for drawing, sketching or cartooning will get a chance to showcase their skill.
“We are hoping to bring out the inner artist in each child. We really do believe there is a lot of talent in India and we are hoping to harness that talent through this,” he said.
The contest is open to schoolchildren from standard I to X with the students sub-divided into three groups — I-III standards in one group, IV-VI standards in the second group, and VII-X standards in the third category.
The criteria for judges to evaluate the contest will be based on ‘artistic merit’ — based on the student’s drawing skills, ‘creativity’ — representation of the theme, and ‘My India’ communication — how well the concept is expressed through the sketch along with the supporting written statement, Desikan said.
Since the participants in this contest are children, the final winner will be honoured on Children’s Day (November 14), he said.
The winner’s doodle will be up on ‘google.co.in’ throughout the day on November 14. Apart from this, the winner will also get a laptop and the participating school a technology grant, he said.
Moreover, there will be 45 other finalists chosen after the contest, who will be felicitated at an awards ceremony to be held in November.
