Dinner doodle gets girl on Google

KENT BLECHYNDEN/ The Dominion Post

SEARCH IS OVER: Amelia Abbott, 8, celebrates winning the New Zealand Doodle 4 Google competition, with Google webmaster Dennis Hwang. She won a laptop computer for herself and equipment worth more than $10,000 for her school.

Doodle for Google logo competition

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"Green and Gorgeous" by Amelia Abbott, the winner of "Doodle for Google" - a competition for Kiwi kids to design the Google logo that will go online for one day in 2010.

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Primary school artist Amelia Abbott, 8, is poised to become an internet hit.

Amelia has been named the first national winner of the New Zealand Doodle 4 Google competition, run by internet search site Google in association with Te Papa.

Thousands of pupils from more than 600 schools gave the Google logo a makeover, inspired by the theme "My New Zealand".

» See the logo entries.

Amelia, of Hampden Street School, in Nelson, won with her design "Green and Gorgeous", which will appear on the Google.co.nz homepage for a day next year, and be viewed by millions of internet users.

She used the silver fern, kiwi, kiwifruit, morepork, nikau palm and tuatara. "I thought of the design over our dinner table at home and I drew it. I picked a New Zealand nature theme because I live in New Zealand and we have lots of wonderful bush."

Google's webmaster and original doodler, Dennis Hwang, said her beautiful doodle showed innovative use of Kiwi icons.

Winners, named at Te Papa last night, are: Years 1-3: Amelia Abbott, Hampden Street School, Nelson (National winner); Years 4-6: Abigail Sadlier, Awapuni School, Gisborne; Years 7-8: Sophie Arnold, Fairfield Intermediate School, Hamilton; Years 9-10: Emily Fountain, Epsom Girls Grammar, Auckland.