Doodle done and won

Pune-based student Gayatri Ketharaman walks away as the winner of 2013 Doodle design competition

Doodle4Google competition was launched in 2009 and is open to students from grades 1 to 10 who are invited to design the Google Doodle.

Emerging as the winner in the national contest held across 100 cities and 1500 schools, Gayatri Ketharaman of Bishop’s Co-Ed School, Pune, received the award for this year’s Doodle design competition in the fifth edition of Doodle4Google (D4G) contest. Chosen amongst 12 finalists, Gayatri was felicitated by Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Google, India, in New Delhi. Google India homepage featured the award winning doodle on November 14, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday which is celebrated as Children’s Day.

An annual Google India property, the Doodle4Google competition was launched in 2009 and is open to students from grades 1 to 10 who are invited to design the Google Doodle to celebrate the day. The theme for this year’s competition was ‘Celebrating Indian Women’ and each letter of Gayatri’s doodle depicts a trait of the Indian woman — graceful, elegant, adept at balancing work and home, a go-getter, a good mother and courageous. It was titled ‘Sky’s the Limit for Indian Women’.

Over 1.5 lakh entries were received from more than 1500 schools across 100 cities. The final 12 doodles were shortlisted and put up for online voting. National jury Kirron Kher and Ajit Ninan along with the original doodler selected the national winner out of the 12 finalists.

Commenting on the occasion, actor Kirron Kher remarked, “I really liked the theme that Doodle4Google came up with today. Celebrating Indian women is something so powerful and rich in concept. It has enabled youngsters to showcase their talent and creativity irrespective of location. Equally importantly it has enabled them to really showcase and bring to life the incredible diversity of Indian women — the incredible colours, their beauty, their personalities, their work, their contributions and their skills. Personally, I am a great fan of Google’s doodles and love them not just for their incredible creativity but also for the simple but powerful message that each new doodle brings.”

(To see all the finalists’ doodles, visit >www.google.co.in/doodle4google )