Avast and ahoy: Google's student doodle contest winner named!

Google

Dylan Hoffman's "Pirate Times" drawing will be featured on Google's home page Friday.

By Suzanne Choney

A 7-year-old Wisconsin boy's drawing of his dream visit to the time of pirates, ships and treasure has won him the annual Doodle 4 Google competition, which means he'll get quite a bounty for it: a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology grant for his school and the drawing itself featured on Google's U.S. home page Friday.

Second-grader Dylan Hoffman was among more than 114,000 kindergarten through senior high school students around the country who entered drawings tied to the theme of "If I could travel in time I'd visit ...."

In his submission, the Prairie School student wrote that he'd "sail a pirate ship looking for treasure, have a colorful pet parrot and enjoy beautiful sunsets from deserted islands.? His drawing shows all that and more: ingenuity incorporating the very non-pirate-era word, "Google." The annual challenge by the search giant asks students to create redesigned versions of its logo.

Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president, product management, said in a blog post Dylan's artwork "will also be featured on a special edition Crayola 64 Box, the first time ever that a child's artwork has appeared on Crayola's iconic box."

Other winning booty for Dylan, who lives in Caledonia, include a Chromebook laptop and a trip to New York City, where his work and that of finalists from all 50 states will have their doodles displayed in an exhibit at the New York Public Library, starting Friday and through July 19.

Google Thursday also named four national finalists (by grade level), each of whom will receive a $5,000 college scholarship. Here's Google's summary of their work and comments:

• Talia Mastalski, Grade 5, East Pike Elementary School, Indiana, Pennsylvania. for ?Traveling to me.? ?When I think of Google, I think of a wormhole leading me to knowledge," said Tali in her entry. " If I could travel in time, I would visit a similar wormhole into the future to find out about ME.?

Talia Mastalski, courtesy of Google

• Herman Wang, Grade 6, Suzanne Middle School, West Covina, California, for his doodle ?Retro City.? ?If I could travel in time, I'd visit Retro City. A future city made of robots and humans," he said in his entry.

Herman Wang, courtesy of Google

• Susan Olvera, Grade 8, SOAR Alternative School, Lafayette, Indiana, for her doodle ?Traveling Back to the Future.? Susan says, ?If I could travel in time, I'd travel back to the future. If there is life on other planets, I believe we'd visit the natives as well as invent different ships and rockets for quicker transportation. With what we have accomplished currently, I believe the ?future? isn?t so far away.?

Susan Olvera, courtesy of Google

• Cynthia Cheng, Grade 11, Edison High School, Edison, New Jersey, for her doodle ?A World of Adventure.? Cynthia says, ?If I could travel in time, I'd visit the age of the Vikings. Though their tales of monsters may not have been entirely true, they were some of the greatest explorers in history. It would be a remarkable experience to share adventures and discover new lands with them.?

Cynthia Cheng, courtesy of Google

You can see all the finalists' work here, and congratulations to everyone who participated!

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