McLean Teen Wins State Google Doodle Contest

MCLEAN, VA — Kennedy Ferguson, a student at The Potomac School in McLean, was the Virginia state winner of the 14th annual Doodle for Google contest.

The doodle competition is open to students in grades K-12. The contest calls for students to create their own Google Doodle for a chance at scholarships and technology packages for their schools.

This year, K-12 students were invited to answer the prompt “I care for myself by…” through their art. In January, Google asked students across the country to submit their ideas for the contest.

“Makeup, movie marathons, masks, making art, making playlists, and manifesting in my notebook are ways I care for myself,” Kennedy said in response to the contest prompt. “My self-love language is self-expression, pampering, and doing what makes me happy.”

Kennedy and the 54 other student winners from across the country received Google hardware and swag.

This year’s judges were singer Selena Gomez, filmmaker and mental health advocate Elyse Fox, and Juliana Urtubey, the 2021 National Teacher of the Year, who works as a special education co-teacher at Kermit Booker Elementary in Las Vegas.

Now that the field has been narrowed to the 54 best Doodles, the public can vote for their favorite Doodle to determine who will become one of the five national finalists. One of the finalists will go on to become the national winner.

Voters are asked to select their favorite Doodles, one from each grade group. Kennedy's Doodle is entered in the 10th to 12th grade category.

Voting ends on Tuesday, July 12.

The winning artist will see their work on the Google homepage for a day and receive a $30,000 college scholarship. The winner’s school will receive a $50,000 technology grant.