The 2006 competition has now closed. The 300 regional finalists will be notified via their schools early in September. For a Doodle 4 Google certificate available for teachers to award in their school please see the Information for Schools page.
Age Groups
The competition is open to all students attending a school in the UK between the ages of 4 and 18. Doodles will be judged in the following three age brackets:
4-8 years
9-13 years
14-18 years
Judging Regions
For the purposes of the competition we have divided Britain into ten regions:
North West
North East
West Midlands
East Midlands
South West
South East
London
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Judging Process
300 Regional Finalists
The best 300 doodles from across the country will be chosen via our judging criteria. In each region, ten doodles will be selected in each of the three age groups. This means that each age group and each region will be equally represented.
30 Regional Winners
Our judging panel will choose thirty top doodles to become our Regional Winners – in each of the ten regions, each age group will have one winner. These Regional Winners will be displayed in a gallery on this website. The British public will then vote for which doodles they think best capture the theme "My Britain".
3 National Winners
An awards ceremony will be held in London, attended by members of our judging panel and the thirty regional winners. The votes of the British people will be counted and the National Age Group Winners will be announced.
1 National Winner
The three Age Group Winners, chosen by the British public, will be put forward for one to be awarded "National Winner of Doodle 4 Google - My Britain". Dennis Hwang, Google's Webmaster, will pick the National Winner whose doodle will 'go live' on Google's homepage for 24 hours.
Judging Panel
We have brought together the following experts to make
up the "Doodle 4 Google - My Britain" 2006 judging panel:
Professor Dan Fern
Head of School of Communications, Royal College of Art
Dennis Hwang
Webmaster and the Original Doodle Designer
Gail Robinson
Community Editor for the Times Educational Supplement Website
Kristina Murrin
Child and Parenting Expert, Author and Social Commentator
Lorraine Twohill
Director of European Marketing Programmes for Google
Judging Criteria
The judges will be rigorously evaluating doodles from
across the country based on the following criteria:
Artistic Merit: based on age,
drawing skills and use of colour.
Creativity: based on the representation
of the 'My Britain' theme and use of the Google logo.
My Britain Communication: how
well the designer's concept of the theme is expressed.
Supporting Statement: each entrant
will be asked to provide a title and 50 words maximum
about the image of Britain they have portrayed.
Prizes
1 National Winner
The National Winner will have their My Britain doodle hosted on the Google UK homepage for 24 hours, where it will be viewed by a potential 18 million people! They will also win a week-long trip of a lifetime for them and their family to the Googleplex office in California*. There, our winning Doodler will learn first hand from Google’s original Doodler designer, Dennis Hwang and will help him design a doodle for an upcoming event.
3 National Age Group Winners The 3 National Age Group Winners will receive a state of the art interactive white board for their school complete with projector, training and installation and a multi e-maths software package. All supplied by Hitachi.
30 Regional Winners
The 30 Regional Winners will receive a framed copy of their doodle. They will be invited to attend an awards ceremony in London to announce the National Winners**.
The top thirty doodles will be hosted on this website for the public to choose which doodles best represent the 'My Britain' theme.
300 Regional Finalists
Regional Finalists will each receive a Google goody bag.
* The trip is for 7 nights for a maximum of four people (at least one adult).
** All travel expenses and one night's accommodation for the finalist and a parent or guardian will be covered.
Key Dates
School Registration Deadline
31 May 2006
Doodle Entry Deadline
14 July 2006
Regional Winners Announced
October 2006
Online Public Vote Regional Winners displayed on website
Public votes for their favourite
October 2006
Awards Ceremony and
National Winners Announced
November 2006
Doodle 4 Britain Report Published
November 2006
The 3 National Age Group Winners will receive a state of the art interactive white board for their school complete with projector, training and installation and a multi e-maths software package. All supplied by Hitachi. 
