STUDENTS AROUND THE country are competing to have their drawing displayed on the Google Ireland homepage for millions of people to see.

Public voting has opened in the annual Doodle 4 Google competition, which saw more than 2,500 primary and secondary school students from around the country submitting entries on a theme of “my invention”.

The entries have been whittled down to 75 finalists. The five most popular doodles – one from each of five age categories – chosen from a public vote will go forward to the final where one of Google’s professional doodlers will select the overall winner.

Head of Google Ireland John Herlihy said the competition had been fierce.

“This year we had the most entries that we’ve ever had, over 2,500, so our judging panel had an extremely tough time selecting the 75 finalists,” he said. “Everyone one of our entrants should be tremendously proud of their success”.

Each of the categories winners and their teachers will receive a Chromebook, while the overall winner will see their drawing on the Google Ireland homepage, receive €5,000 for their college students, and a €10,000 technology grant for their school.

Voting closes at midnight on 4 March.

Google changes its homepage logo infrequently to commemorate major events, anniversaries, birthdays and other events.