ELLISVILLE, Mo. — A local student named Grace Dai from Crestview Middle School in Ellisville is one of five national finalists for Google's "Doodle for Google" competition.
Google announced on Thursday it had picked five national finalists for their competition. The public votes were counted and the judges deliberate on the original 54 winners to narrow it down to five.
The judges included Selena Gomez, Elyse Fox, and Juliana Urtubey.
Finalists were assessed on artistic merit, their creativity, and how they addressed the prompt in not only their artwork but also in their written statements.
Google announced over the next few weeks the panel of judges will choose their national winner.
The national winner will have their artwork on the Google homepage for a day and receive a $30,000 scholarship. The winner's school will also receive a $50,000 technology grant.
The 14th annual Doodle for Google contest was announced in January, asking K-12 students to submit their ideas. Participants from all across the U.S. responded to the prompt "I care for myself by..." through their own unique artwork.
"Our theme this year invites students to share how they take care of their minds, bodies and spirits as they face the opportunities and challenges every new day brings," Selly Sallah wrote in Google's blog post.
Grace said that her Doodle theme was “The Life-Cycle of Health” and that “I care for myself by being outdoors, especially with family or my sketchbook. My optimism and mental health soars most when I'm outside, because self-care is like nature; they're both beautiful, intricate systems. Like how a bee pollinates a flower, or how the bird hunts the worm, self-care should be as systematic and natural as life itself.”
To celebrate the achievement, all 54 student winners received hardware and swag from Google. Each hometown of the participants also held celebrations to showcase their artwork.
Click here to find Dai's and other finalists' artwork.
