Bangkok--11 Mar--PC & Associates Consulting
Public invited to vote for four national age group winners, from which the overall winner will be chosen and the winning doodle displayed on Google.co.th on the first day of Songkran Festival
Google has revealed the top 40 creative designs based on the company's logo, called doodles, by Thai school students in Thailand’s first ever Doodle 4 Google competition, proudly supported by the Ministry of Education and TK Children's Park.
The top 40 student doodles can be viewed at www.google.co.th/doodle4google/ where the public can vote for their favourite to select the four national age group winners. Each person may only vote once for one doodle per age group. Voting closes at 11:59 pm on March 31, 2010. Visitors to TK Children's Park at CentralWorld can also view the top 40 student doodles being exhibited there until March 31 and vote for their favorites to win the contest. The winning doodle will appear on the Google.co.th homepage to be viewed by millions of Internet users on the first day of Songkran Festival, April 13, 2010.
In late January, Google called for entries from all schools in Thailand, asking students ages 5 to 18 to design a Google ‘doodle’ inspired by the theme “My Thailand'. By the end of February, Google had received over 46,000 entries from 11,000 schools all over the country. Four hundred finalists were selected on the basis of artistic merit, creativity, and how well the theme of 'My Thailand' was communicated. The contest judges, renowned artists Archan Sangkom Thongmee, M.R. Chalermchatri Yukol and Khun Nualthong Prasanthong, then picked 40 finalists, ten per age group, whose doodles are now up on the Doodle 4 Google website for public voting.
Pornthip Kongchun, Google's Head of Marketing for Thailand, says, “We're amazed and thankful that so many students participated in this contest from all over the country, exceeding even our wildest expectations. The entries were brimming with creativity and talent, and displayed so many wonderful interpretations of the theme, 'My Thailand.' We're also enormously impressed with the quality of the final 40 entries and we appreciate the time and effort our three artist-judges provided to pick the finalists. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the country thinks now that we are open for public voting to find the four age group winners!”
All top 40 students will be flown to the award ceremony, to be held in Bangkok on April 8th, where special guests including the Minister of Education and Michael Lopez, one of Google's actual doodlers, will announce the overall winner whose doodle will appear on www.google.co.th. The winner will also receive an education scholarship, a new laptop, and an all-expenses paid trip to Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, USA.
Details of the top 40 finalists follow at the end of this release.
What the judges thought
Archan Sangkom Thongmee, who was conferred a royal grant to establish Thailand's first arts center for children, said: “Judging the doodles has given me an understanding of what influences the next generation of Thais. What resounded with me the most is the strong pride in our culture, from our many festival rituals, through to our beautiful temples and indigenous musical instruments. It’s really encouraging to see the youth carrying on our traditions into the future.”
Nationally renowned illustrator, designer and art teacher Khun Nualthong Prasanthong said: “All of our finalists were really imaginative, working in all of the things that meant ‘Thailand’ to them — like replacing the Google letters with everything from elephants to wats, Thai dragons, giants and palm trees. I was genuinely impressed by the subtlety and creativity of the designs.”
Filmmaker and digital media guru M.R. Chalermchatri Yukol said: “It’s also encouraging to see the Thai youth going beyond the obvious symbols and depicting their hopes for Thai society--unity, reconciliation, love and respect for elders. They've shown us that no matter how much our society modernizes or how fast technology advances, some things never change."
What are Google doodles?
The customisation of the Google logo first took place in 1999, and the Google doodle team has since celebrated events, anniversaries and holidays worldwide with doodles that incorporate the Google logo — including Thailand-specific ones that commemorated Songkran, Loy Krathong, National Artists Day and many more over the past few years.
To vote or for more information, please visit: www.google.co.th/doodle4google.
About Google Inc.
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.co.th.
Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
For more information please contact:
Therese Lim
Google Southeast Asia
Tel: +65-6521-8194
Email:
[email protected]
Suchai Chalermtanasak
PC & Associates Consulting
Tel: 0 2971 3711
Email:
[email protected]