I personally voted for her and I’m so pleased she won!

Article originally published on The Irish Times.

Kelly McCabe from Scoil Carmel Junior National School in Firhouse Co Dublin named overall winner for jungle design

Dublin student Kelly McCabe from Scoil Carmel Junior National School was named the overall winner of the sixth annual Doodle 4 Google competition today.

Kelly’s winning doodle beat off competition from 74 regional finalists and will be seen by millions of users when it appears on the Google Ireland homepage this Wednesday March 26th.

Kelly, aged eight, was presented with her award at a special prize-giving ceremony in Google’s EMEA headquarters in Dublin today by professional Google doodler, Katy Wu.

Ms Wu presented Kelly with her prizes including a Chromebook and a €5,000 scholarship towards her further studies. Kelly’s school, in Firhouse, Dublin, will also receive a €10,000 technology grant from Google.

The theme of this year’s event was ‘My Adventure’. Kelly’s winning doodle, entitled ‘My Adventure in the Jungle’, was inspired by the jungle and used animals such as elephants, lions and snakes to give the Google logo a creative twist. Describing her doodle, Kelly said: “The jungle is where you can find lots of exciting things, just like Google.”

Ms Wu, a professional Google doodler said Kelly’s design stood out “with its fun design and bright colours”.

“What I was also impressed by was the level of enthusiasm for the competition in Ireland. We run Doodle 4 Google in many countries across the world but number and quality of the entries from Irish students was outstanding,” she said.

John Herlihy, head of Google in Ireland, said 2,390 students entered and over 120,000 public votes from people voting for their favourite doodle were recorded this year.

The four other group winners in the competition included Cian Mangan from Cloghan’s Hill National School in Tuam, Co Galway(Ages 4-6); Emma Doyle from Ballyduff National School, Camolin, Co Wexford (Ages 9-12); Naiara Abad Sanchez from Carndonagh Community School, Co Donegal (Ages 13-15)and Oisin O’Byrne from Ashbourne Community School in Meath (Ages 16-18).