FARMINGTON — Olivia Fish of Mt. Blue Middle School is one of the 55 US state and territory winners for Google’s ‘Doodle for Google’ student contest.

The art contest, which has been held annually since 2008, allows students [Grades K-12] the opportunity to create their own Google Doodle for the chance to have it featured on Google.com on top of scholarships and tech prizes.

Fish, along with the other contest winners, were announced on Wednesday, May 22.

Fish’s artwork, titled “?”, will now be entered into the next stage of the competition, wherein the 55 doodles will be voted on by the public from May 22 to June 4. The five national finalists will have their doodles featured on the Google homepage.

“We’re just very proud,” Mark Fish, Olivia’s father, shared with The Franklin Journal. “Love the fact that she’s getting recognition. She tends to be really reserved, so we have to push her to get her to get it out to show people and what not.”

Mark shared that he knew well in advance that his daughter had been selected for the contest but had to keep it a secret at the behest of Google.

“We were really happy, but we were also really worried about being able to keep it a secret,” he shared.

Olivia found that out on Wednesday, and she called the whole experience “crazy”.

“I’m like really surprised,” she said. “I definitely did not expect to win because it was like really last minute.”

Contestants were tasked with recreating the Google logo, and they were given the prompt “My wish for the next 25 years is…” as the inspiration for their doodle.

Fish’s doodle features a cat, dog, mouse and snake, as well as a tennis ball and carrot. She shared that her inspiration came from her love of animals, and she thought about which animals could make the different letters in the logo.

She shared that sketching and doodling is very relaxing for her, and putting together the doodle was really fun despite it being a last-minute entry. According to her father, she has been drawing her entire life.

“Her artistic talent has been with her forever,” he said. “The first contest she won was either in kindergarten or first grade. She designed a button for the winter festival that the school was holding, and she won.”

“Twice,” Fish added.

The national winner will take home a $55,000 college scholarship and their school will receive a $50,000 tech package towards the establishment or improvement of a computer lab or tech program. Fish received a Chromebook and a certificate for her doodle, and she will be waiting anxiously for the results of the national contest in early June.

To vote for Fish’s artwork, visit doodles.google.com/d4g/ and select “Cast your vote” and select the 6-7 grade bracket.

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