Tippin student a finalist in Google competition

A talented El Paso student may soon have her art on the Google homepage for billions to see.

Google is announcing its eighth annual Doodle 4 Google competition, a contest open to K-12 students across the United States to redesign the Google logo inspired by the theme, “What makes me…me.”

Mia Portillo, a second-grade student from Tippin Elementary School in El Paso, is one of the 53 winners with her doodle, “Crazy Love.”

It depicts her love of cats due to their adorable and cuddly nature, although she is allergic to them.

Mia’s doodle was selected from around 100,000 received this year.

This was the first year that the use of non-traditional media was strongly encouraged.

To help Mia win, everyone across the USA can vote for their favorite doodle from the 53 state winners.

Voting will be open from February 5 until February 22 on this site: http://www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html.

Google will announce these five national finalists and one of them as the national winner on March 21-and the winner’s doodle will go live on Google.com that day.

The winning student and national finalists will travel to Mountain View, California, to meet and workshop with Google’s team of professional doodlers and see what it takes to launch a Doodle on the Google homepage.

This year, the national finalist can also nominate a teacher who has inspired them to come along on the trip. The national winner will take home a $30,000 college scholarship and his or her school will receive a $50,000 Google for Education grant towards the establishment and improvement of a computer lab or technology program.

To see a full list of state winners and to vote online, visit: http://www.google.com/doodle4google/vote.html