VIDEO: Katya’s winning design is today’s Google doodle
She has beaten 100 pupils in this year's Doodle 4 Google competition by securing a total of 6 349 votes.
A Hoërskool Noordheuwel pupil from Krugerdorp is very pleased because her doodle design is featuring on the search engine giant Google South Africa’s homepage today 3 December.
The design by Katya Ludick, 13, has beaten 100 other pupils from around the country when she was announced the category and overall winner of this year’s Doodle 4 Google competition, which was held at the Arts on Main in Johannesburg on Saturday 29 November. She took part in the 12 to 14 years category.
It was the job of several celebrities such as author John van de Ruit, 5FM presenter DJ Fresh, 2oceansvibe founder Seth Rotherham, Springbok player Pat Lambie, this year’s Survivor SA winner Graham Jenneker, Spud actor Sven Ruygrok, singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Miller Matola, chief executive officer of Brand SA to judge the entries the staff of Google South Africa had chosen as the best. They also had to limit those entries to five for each of the four respective age categories.
After 10 days of judging they made their choices, after which the public had the opportunity to vote for their favourite doodle, securing Katya a total of 6 349 votes.
This is the original video which described the competition:
“When it was announced that I had won, I was shocked and completely levelled, but at the same time also very happy,” Katya said.
“It still feels very surreal to me – it really is a great honour for me to see my design My Dream Conservation on the Google homepage today.”
Her winning design not only brought her the latest Samsung Tablet 4 and a special pair of Superga sneakers. R100 000 will be given to her school to promote technology projects.
Winners connecting. Katya Ludick, whose winning doodle appears on Google South Africa’s home page today 3 December said it was quite an experience when she met Graham Jenneker, the winner of this year’s Survivor South Africa.
She also received a T-shirt and a framed picture of her design that mostly is about wildlife conservation.
Katya said she understands that some animal species become extinct as a result of a change in their habitat, but said she was opposed totally to animals dying as a result of human activities.
The letters of the word ‘Google’ in her design suggest the South African flag as a symbol of “Proudly South African”, she said.
“The reflection on the water is a reflection of 20 years of democratic freedom, while the sun symbolises hope.”
The other age category winners are:
• 6–8 years: Kayleigh Breytenbach from Laerskool Sabie in Sabie, Mpumalanga (3 798 votes)
• 9–11 years: Zehiye Rahman from Clarendon Preparatory School in Selborne, East London (2 986 votes)
• 15– 7 years: Alexandra Wuzyk from Hoërskool Secunda in Secunda, Mpumalanga (4 395 votes)
