The king of search just announced a Doodle for Google contest which asks students to create a custom Google logo that illustrates 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,” according to MSNBC.

Only students in the United States in K-12 can participate.

Submissions will be rated based on “. . . artistic merit, creativity and representation of the theme.” Though answering the question “what if?” certainly leaves a lot of room for creative license.

Google has been customizing its logo since 1999 and “is now designed almost exclusively by Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang, whose work is seen by millions every time he exhibits on the Google homepage.” Hwang refers to his drawings as “doodles”.

Hwang gained his opportunity for fame when “He designed his first logo for Google in honor of Bastille Day, July 14, 2000, at the request of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and has been designing the specialty logos ever since,” according to Wikipedia.

Now Google is extending that same opportunity to students all over the United States. Taking a look at statistics from Compete.com, Google.com brought in 126,828,714 people from January 2007 to January 2008. By day that averages out to 347,476 people per day and that’s a relative (and very conservative) estimate based on Compete’s set of users that report statistics.

That’s some pretty awesome exposure for a new and aspiring artist! It’s also a nice move on Google’s part as the contest reaches out to the community in a very visible way.

UPDATE: In order to enter your child in the Doodle for Google contest, your child’s school must register first. Here is the official Doodle for Google site.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 10:37 am under Google.

Read more entries by Matt Jansen.
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