On Monday, May 20, senior Maisie Derlega and her respective artwork entered in the national Doodle for Google competition were celebrated for winning Washington DC’s regional contest in the matrium. Derlega’s doodle entitled “Family Dinner” was selected from thousands of entries received this year across 55 respective states and regions. A camera crew from Google met her and friends as they shared the news of her winning Doodle.

Doodle for Google is an annual competition for students in K-12 that began in 2008. Students who chose to participate create artwork of any medium according to a prompt, this year’s being “My wish for the next 25 years…” The only requirement for entry is that the doodle must include the classic Google phrase somewhere/how in the piece. After writing a brief artist’s statement relaying their artwork’s significance and how it relates to the prompt, the artist submits their creative work. The pieces are then judged by artistic merit, creativity, and theme communication to decide 55 regional winners. Derlega described the competition as “a really cool opportunity for artists. It’s a really high profile way to get your art and yourself out there.”

“When the theme came out, I spent the day brainstorming ideas,” Derlega explained. “It usually takes me quite a few thumbnails to come up with an idea, but the idea for this piece came quite easily and once it came to me I stuck with it.” Once the idea was set in stone, Derlega used the app Procreate on her iPad and spent about 35 hours fine tuning the details.

“I’m going to college next year so I’m thinking about all the things that are going to change in my life and how it’s this new domain.” Derlega committed to the University of Michigan to earn a degree in art and design. “Something that I really value that’s a constant in my life, at least right now, is that every Sunday my family gathers for dinner at my house. Food is something that is really important to my family, [as] my dad is a chef,” Derlega said. “I’m not really sure how this really happened but Sunday dinner emerged as something that my family and friends did. It’s super chaotic and quick, but it is really wonderful and it makes me feel so much closer to my family.” 

“The whole point of the piece is that I hope family dinners are something that continue for the next 25 years,” Derlega affirmed.

The national winner of the Doodle for Google will receive a $55,000 college scholarship. Additionally, their high school will receive $50,000 to be used to establish or improve a computer lab or technology program.

“She did it on her own; it wasn’t a class project or something I asked her to do. It was her own initiative,” art teacher Alia Hasan shared. “She worked really hard on it and showed it to me along the way.” Hasan taught and guided Derlega through the AP Art and Design curriculum for the past two years. “I’m so thrilled that she won! She totally deserved it because she did a really amazing job with her Doodle.”

Voting will be open from May 22 through June 4. Be sure to support Derlega by voting for her piece at this link!