Doodle 4 Google Voting Campaign Goes Public

South Africa decides its winning Doodle

Doodle4Google is a global competition that encourages South African school children to join 20 other countries in designing football-inspired drawings, doodles and designs to compete for appearing on the search engine’s landing page during the FIFA World Cup. The theme covers the way sport (and fair play) brings people together.

The Doodle 4 Google public voting campaign kicked off on the 31st May online! A judging panel chose ten finalists doodles drawn from hundreds of schools around South Africa, capturing the spirit of football and fair play.  The judges were former Pop Idols Africa presenter Lebo Mzwimbi, renowned artist Zapiro, Director General of Education Duncan Hindle, Editor of the Sunday Times Read Right supplement, Sandra Fivaz and the Google South Africa team.

The top ten doodles will be published in the Sunday Times Read Right supplement this Sunday, on the 30th of May. 

To view the top ten doodles and vote online, please go to www.google.co.za/lovefootballvote. Voters can also SMS their winning choice to 41633.

Doodle 4 Google is a global competition where children from over 20 countries around the world, aged four to seventeen, are being challenged to design a Google Doodle inspired by football. The Google Doodle is the artistic customisation of the Google logo on the search engine’s homepage, on special occasions.

The winner of the South African competition will receive a laptop. In addition, their Doodle will be displayed on the Google homepage for 24 hours on June 11th, as South Africa kicks off the FIFA 2010 World Cup (TM), where millions of people will have a chance to see it.

"We want the public to choose the final doodle for the Google homepage, not least because the world will be focused on South Africa as the tournament begins," said Julie Taylor, Communications Manager, Google South Africa. "There are some really creative entries, so we're encouraging everyone to vote on which South African doodle, and which of our aspiring young artists, goes through to the international final."

The winner of the South African competition will square off against the winners from other competing countries. The ultimate, global winning Doodle will be displayed internationally on Google home pages around the world on the day of the World Cup final, July 11th.  The winner will win a ten-day trip with their family to South Africa and the runner-up will win two VIP tickets (for the winner and a parent) to a premier league football match in the UK.

For more information - Doodle4Google.

For another great World Cup updates be sure to read through our 2010 World Cup Section