Aspiring 7-Year-Old Astronaut Wins Doodle 4 Google Contest

If you’ve ever told your kids to stop doodling, you may want to rethink stifling their artistic urges. In the case of seven-year-old Matteo Lopez, his doodling talent won him the fourth annual Doodle 4 Google contest, along with a $15,000 scholarship for college and a $25,000 technology grant for his school. 

The competition, which is open to kids aged K-12, celebrates the creativity and artistic talent of children around the country and this year asked kids to answer the question, “What I’d like to do someday…” Since Matteo is an aspiring astronaut, it’s only natural that his doodle would feature a trip to space, aliens, a meteor and an astronaut on the moon.

Matteo’s entry was selected from 107,000 total submissions and was featured on Google’s home page last Friday. The entries were judged on artistic merit, creativity, how well the theme was expressed and its adherence to the supporting statement. Judges included Whoopi Goldberg, “Garfield” creator Jim Davis, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, and others. 

Matteo and 39 other finalists were flown to New York City for the awards ceremony and winner announcement. In an interview with the TODAY Show, Matteo said, “I drew with color pencils and drew it for three weeks and threw out lots of paper until I got it perfect,” adding, “I like mine the best.” 

The doodles of the 40 finalists are on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art until June 16 and also at SFMOMA until July 19. 

 

 

 

 

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