Chinese-American Girl takes over Google's homepage

By Li Ang in New York | China Daily USA | Updated: 2014-06-11 03:01

Audrey Zhang is drawing doodle at home for 2013 Doodle 4 Google, which is an annual design and drawing competition held by Google. Zhang won the seventh annual Doodle 4 Google competition in the US for her drawing of a water purification system titled Back to Mother Nature. [Photo / Provided to China Daily]

After participating in the Google 4 Doodle competition three times, 11-year-old Audrey Zhang from New York finally emerged as a winner. Her work was seen by the hundreds of millions of people who viewed Google's homepage on Monday.

Zhang won the seventh annual Doodle 4 Google competition in the US. Her drawing of a water purification system titled Back to Mother Nature, was chosen from more than 100,000 submissions. Google employees and guest judges narrowed down the submissions to 50 winners representing each state.

In an 11-day online public voting contest which ended on May 9, Zhang's work was judged the best. As part of the prize package, Zhang's winning doodle appeared in the space that usually features the Google logo at the top of the homepage.

Aside from the chance to display her drawing on Google's homepage, Zhang received a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 grant from Google for her school, Island Trees Memorial Middle School in Levittown on Long Island in New York. Google also donated $40,000 in her name to provide clean water to schools in Bangladesh.

Sponsored by the online search giant, Doodle 4 Google is an annual design and drawing competition. This year students from kindergarten through high school (ages 4-19) were asked to draw an invention that would make the world a better place.

Zhang collaborated with Google's Doodle team of professionals, who worked from her drawing, to come up with a colorful version of her invention. "They were really friendly and always asked me what they should animate," said Zhang, who supervised the production.

Zhang was inspired to do the drawing when she learned from Google that every year almost 3 million people die of diseases caused by polluted water. Many of the victims are children.

Zhang then set out to "…design a transformative water purifier. It takes in dirty and polluted water, then massively transforms the water into clean and safe water".

Zhang's mother said that her daughter started drawing when she was 2 years old. Zhang was given art instruction by her mother, who is a graduate of the China Academy of Art.

Zhang is on her school's soccer team and plays the piano and flute. She said she hopes to pursue a career that includes painting and sculpturing.

"She just got a scholarship from the 92nd Street Y and is going to spend the summer studying painting," her mother said. 92nd Street Y is a multifaceted cultural institution and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.