Each year, kindergarten through 12th grade students are given the opportunity to create a “Google Doodle” for the contest using any materials and the letters, G-O-O-G-L-E. The contest started accepting entries mid-October and will continue to accept them until Monday, December 7. Along with entering a unique doodle, students must submit a 50-word statement explaining the inspiration behind their masterpiece.

This is the first year that Delanty, 3-year Valley Vista HS art teacher, has had her students participate in this imaginative contest. Danelle Soto (pictured top right), a senior at the school, said that she did not have an initial strategy before starting her Google Doodle, but rather just “winged” it with some help from Delanty’s.

After the contest deadline passes, all entries, including Valley Vista’s, will be judged by Google and six celebrity judges. Eventually, one National Winner will be selected and have his or her doodle featured on the U.S. Google.com homepage for one day. This winner will also receive:
-- A $30,000 college scholarship
-- A $50,000 Google for Education grant for his or her school
-- A trip to the Google Headquarters in California to meet the Google Doodlers, and the opportunity to nominate a teacher to come on the trip
-- A Chromebook
-- An Android Tablet
-- A t-shirt printed with his or her doodle on it

In addition to the one National Winner, four National Finalists and 48 State and Territory winners will also be selected to have their doodles featured in the Doodle 4 Google gallery.

Even though Google only selects a limited amount of winners and finalists for the contest, Ms. Delanty’s class will have gained a valuable lesson in meticulous artistry and identifying, “What Makes Them…Them.”