MANILA — A high school student from Compostela Valley was declared the overall winner of the first Doodle 4 Google (D4G) competition in the Philippines with his entry, ‘Sari-Jeepney.’
Kim Patrick Saren of Nabunturan National Comprehensive High School came out on top of the nationwide contest, which saw 51,000 entries from all over the country answering the question, “What can I do for the Philippines?”
“This is a sarimanok inspired idea. It symbolizes Filipino culture with deep appreciation of hard work and creativity,” wrote Kim of his doodle. “The concept is created to solve problems like traffic, economy, education and basic needs. The key on the tail signifies the solutions to the problems wherein we must fly high with pride and honor.” Saren belongs to the 15-17 age group category.
Launched last July, D4G encouraged students and learners to look beyond themselves and imagine what they can do for the country. The entries were judged in three categories: artistic merit, creativity, and theme communication.
Aside from Saren, three other winners were picked per age group. Angela Kaitlin Tiu’s “Love and Care for the Philippines,” Avryll Nartates’ “Coral Ripped or Coral Reef?”, and Jay Portallo’s “Symphony for Peace” won for the 5-8 years old, 9-11 years old, and 12-14 years old categories, respectively.
“Through the competition, we saw the depth of the Filipino youth’s insight, creativity, and innovation. They are very keen on the idea of nation-building,” said Ryan Morales, Google Philippines Country Marketing Manager. “The doodles reflect the aspirations of the nation over pressing issues—from solution to flooding to environment protection to food for the poor, value of education, culture preservation, and global competitiveness.”
Saren’s doodle will be displayed on the Google Philippines homepage on November 10. He also took home a specially designed trophy by Google, a PHP 400,000 educational grant from BPI Foundation at any school or college in the Philippines, an art kit from National Bookstore, and an Acer C720 Chromebook.
PLDT-Smart Foundation will also provide a PHP 350,000 connectivity grant for Kim’s school, Nabunturan National Comprehensive High School in Compostela Valley.
The age category winners received various prizes including a medal from Google, a Nexus 7 tablet, a 3D doodling pen, and PHP 5,000 worth of gift certificates from National Bookstore.
The pool of entries was narrowed down to 10 per age category by judges comprised of teacher and 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Penaflorida, TBWA-Santiago Mangada Puno Senior Art Director CJ De Silva-Ong, PLDT-Smart Foundation, Inc. President Ma. Esther Santos, and BPI Foundation, Inc. Senior Vice President and Executive Director Fidelina Corcuera.
An online public voting determined the age category winners, from which Google Doodler Katy Wu picked the overall winner.
