Sixteen-year-old Lee Yee Run’s winning Doodle 4 Google art that features iconic Malaysian figures, will be on the Google search page, this Malaysia Day.
The student from SMJK Yoke Kuan in Sekinchan, Selangor won this honour and a trophy after he painted a doodle titled Beauty Of Malaysia, that shows the KL Tower, Bunga Raya, the Twin Towers and other iconic images of the country.
“Many of us may have been caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, missing out on the beauty of our country,” said Lee, who also won in the 16 to 17 age category.
“Let's step out, travel to attractive spots, discover and embrace the true and unique colours of Malaysia,” he said.
The other Doodle 4 Google category winners are Vaisnawi Harulnathan of SJKG Vallambrosa, Klang (in the 7 to 9 age category), Chin Joe Yi of SJK (C) Kwang Hwa, Penang (in the 10 to 12 age category) and Mohammed Anoof Ibrahim of Mutiara International Grammar School Ampang (in the 13 to 15 category).
Doodles are spontaneous changes made to the Google logo that have become a much loved staple of the Internet and created to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, pioneers and scientists who have helped shape history.
Some popular doodles include Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Ray Charles, the Pac Man doodle, World Cup and Olympic doodles, among others.
Although this is the first Doodle 4 Google competition held locally, it is not the first time Google has created a Malaysia-centric doodle.
The 2013 Elections, Yasmin Ahmad's 56th birthday and most recently, the 57th Merdeka Day doodle commissioned to artist Red Hong Yi have all been given the spotlight on google.com.my.
Google doodles are usually created internally by Google’s doodle team but the company does make special exceptions, as in the case of Doodle 4 Google Malaysia.
Google Malaysia managing director Sajith Sivanandan said doodles submitted were judged on artistic merit, creativity and theme communication.
The winning doodles were selected using a two-step process involving Googlers and online votes by members of the public.
The official Google doodle team, made up of Google web designers, helped to select the grand prize doodle from the four age group category winners.
“The team worked hard to shortlist and curate 20 doodle designs that best embodied imagination and creativity two traits we value super highly at Google,” said Sajith. “These best of the best were then listed for public online voting throughout the month of August.”
Themed ‘Malaysia to me is...’ in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2014. The Doodle 4 Google competition was launched in April this year, open to all Malaysian primary and secondary school students.
Google Malaysia organised the Doodle 4 Google competition supported by DiGi.com Bhd, Teach for Malaysia and Petrosains.
To see the other shortlisted doodles, visit here.
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