Doodle4Google 2012: Vote for your favourite doodle

Google’s doodles that adorn its homepage on days of special importance, be it the birthday of a famous personality or a national holiday, are admired the world over. No wonder then there is so much buzz about the search giant’s annual Doodle4Google contest that is currently underway. Google India has announced the names of 12 finalists from across the nation, who will now present their best doodles to Indian netizens. Voting for the best doodle out of the 12 shortlisted started on November 5 and ends on November 10. You can vote at www.google.co.in/doodle4google. 

The theme for this year’s contest is Unity in Diversity. “Bring alive the things you think are uniquely different and diverse, yet unite India and make it into a doodle,” as Google puts it. 

Giving a glimpse into the competition thus far, Google shares that this year’s D4G participants were grouped into three categories: Group 1 comprising students from class 1 to 3; Group 2 with students from class 4 to 6; and Group 3 with students from class 7 to 10. Google received over 2 lakh entries, initially that went through a round of preliminary judging by film and theatre actor Boman Irani and political cartoonist Ajit Ninan. 

Vote for your favourite doodle

The next step is online public voting, which will help Google pick a winner from each group. Finally, the reputed jury, along with the original Google Doodler Dennis Hwang, will select the final winning doodle from all the finalists. The winner will be announced on November 12, who will be handed over their award at an event in New Delhi.

In fact, the winning doodle will be uploaded on the google.co.in homepage on November 14, which is celebrated as Children’s Day all over India. It will also be featured on a special colour pack/ drawing book by Classmate. All finalists will be awarded a certificate and a Google Goodie Bag. The top three winners will receive a merit certificate from the chief guest at the finale held in the capital.

Here's a quick look at the 12 finalists:

Group 1: class 1 to 3

• Vidhi Binwal - The Orchid School, Pune
• Saubhagya Kalia - Sri Aurobindo School of International Education, Chandigarh
• Vasuevan Deepak - Devigiri C.M.I Public School, Calicut
• M Pranshu Tanaya - D.A.V Public School, Balasore

Group 2: class 4 to 6

• Kajal C. Soni - Queen Mary School, Mumbai
• Samiksha Goel - Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1 Uppal, Hyderabad
• Aditi Tiwari - Amity International School, Gurgaon
• Gulafsha Bano - St. Anthony's Day School, Kolkata 

Group 3: class 7 to 10

• Arun Kumar Yadav - Kendriya Vidyalaya, Chandigarh
• S Preetham Paul - Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan, Vishakapatnam
• Md Aftab Alam - Albany Hall Public School, Kolkata
• Prasun Jain - Anand Vikas Higer Secondary School, Bhopal

So share with us, which one of Google’s doodles is your favourite.