For the fifth year, Google is giving students across the nation a chance to showcase their artistic ability on its homepage.
The Web giant on Thursday launched its annual Doodle 4 Google contest, asking K-12 students to draw their version of the Google logo, using the theme "If I could travel in time, I'd visit…" The ultimate doodler will walk away with a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for their school, Google announced in a blog post Wednesday. In addition, the winning doodle will appear on a special-edition box of Crayola crayons.
For the contest, students are free to depict any past, present or future setting, "whether it's traveling back in time to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, to the future to witness everyday space travel, or to just a few moments ago to relive a poignant experience," Google wrote.
Google changed up the rules a bit for this year's contest. For the first time, there will be a winner from every state. From the 50 state winners, there will be five national finalists and one overall winner. The doodles of all 50 state winners will be displayed at the New York Public Library.
All entries must be submitted by March 20. This year, Google is not requiring users to register before entering.
To narrow the contest down, a panel of judges will pick the 50 state winners. The judging panel includes singers Katy Perry and Jordan Sparks; Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, who created the Disney show Phineas and Ferb; as well as other illustrators, artists, and Google employees.
On May 2, Google will put all 50 state winners up for public vote. The winning doodle will be announced on May 18.
Last year, Google had 107,000 entries for the contest, which was themed "What I'd like to do someday." California second grader Matteo Lopez won the grand prize with a doodle that depicted a trip into space, walking on the moon.
For more on Google's in-house doodles, meanwhile, see the slideshow below. One of the company's more popular doodles last year was a playable image in honor of musician Les Paul, which eventually got its own standalone site. The company has also honored Gumby creator Art Clokey, Muppets creator Jim Henson, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, and Intel co-founder Robert Noyce.
In 2011, it was revealed that Google obtained a patent for its popular homepage doodles, covering "systems and methods for enticing users to access a Web site."