Doodle for Google

The Doodle for Google program has now actually made it to the US! Doodle for Google actually started in the UK:

Doodle4Google Competitions

The Doodle4Google competitions are British based, and are hosted every year. The competition is opened to students aged between 5 and 16 in the UK. There is usually a deadline, of which all submissions should be entered. Each doodle requires a title and a statement that is less than 60 words. The process of choosing a winner is split into different sections. After some time, the regional winners are announced and then the winning doodles go onto the Doodle4Google website, where the public get the opportunity to vote for the winner. The prize is a trip to the Google campus in California and the hosting of your doodle for 24 hours on the Google UK website.

There's also been an Australian version of Doodle for Google:

Australia celebrates its national day on January 26 with a swag of official events, and one of the 21st century's ultimate anniversary markers: a customized holiday homepage on the Google search engine.



The Web site will sport a Melbourne schoolgirl's doodle of a rusty outback shed and a kangaroo road-crossing sign on Saturday, after a 12-year-old's depiction of outback life won the Doodle 4 Google competition last year.



Drawn by Janelle San Juan, the shed and sign, common sights in the country's dry interior, were judged the most iconic by the man behind the cyber trend, "Google doodler" Kevin Hwang.



With just under a third of entries featuring indigenous animals such as koalas and kangaroos, the range of Down Under designs were fairly predictable.

And as above, the Doodle For Google program has now arrived in the US:

Google on Wednesday announced the launch of “Doodle 4 Google,” a competition that invites school children to design a Google logo inspired by the question, “What If ...?”

The winning student’s doodle will be displayed on the Google homepage on May 22, 2008; the champion “doodler” will also win a $10,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for his/her school.

The “Doodle 4 Google” competition is open to U.S. students K-12.

Perhaps the most amusing thing is that entries to Doodle for Google will not be accepted by electronic mail....

Google is inviting students to design a "Doodle 4 Google" that will be featured on the search giant's site on May 22. Each school can submit six entries, which will be judged in categories based on the designer's age and region.

The theme is "What if...?"

The irony is that Google, the world's most powerful Internet company, won't accept any electronic submissions. "We're only accepting entries by mail; please don't email your doodles to us!,"

And if you'd like some examples of what a Google Doodle actually is, here's some from the man who has been preparing them for years.

And in other news, Google appears to be launching a cell phone:


Online giant asks students to ‘Doodle 4 Google’

Children invited to submit a 'Doodle 4 Google'

Doodle 4 Google: Artsy-Craftsy March Madness

What if... you could have your doodle on the Google homepage for a ...

Doodle for Google