West Cork students in Doodle 4 Google final

TWO West Cork primary school students have reached the final of the Doodle 4 Google competition, which will see the winning Doodle appearing on the Google homepage on Easter Monday March 28th.

Mia Buckley from Summercove National School in Kinsale and Róisín Nolan Collins from Ballinadee National School are among 75 regional finalists in with a chance of winning the competition. 

This year’s competition received over 4,000 entries and students were asked to design a Doodle on the theme ‘Ireland is …’

‘This year’s Doodle 4 Google competition is very special as it is part of Google’s 2016 commemoration programme, with the winning doodle featuring on the Google Ireland homepage on Easter Monday, March 28th. Millions of people will have the opportunity to see it, and understand how young people view the modern Ireland of 2016. We’ve seen some amazing doodles this year and it’s now up to the public to vote for their favourite doodle,’ said Ronan Harris, part-time West Cork resident and head of Google Ireland.

The panel of judges included the artist Maser, one of Ireland’s leading visual artists, along with Aideen Howard, director of The Ark, the Cultural Centre for children and Tomm Moore, director of the Oscar-nominated film The Secret of Kells. All three of them had the difficult task of selecting finalists from the thousands of entries that were received.

The winner will receive a €5,000 scholarship towards their third-level studies, a Chromebook and a €10,000 technology grant for their school. Each of the five class group winners and teachers will also win a Chromebook.

Members of the public can vote from February 7th for their favourite Doodle on www.google.ie/doodle4google and voting will close at midnight on February 14th. The five most popular doodles, one from each age category, will then go forward to the grand final where the overall winner will be chosen by the Google Ireland team.