Huckeby, Doodle 4 Google Ark. winner

Janelle Jessen/Siloam Sunday Keenan Huckeby, a fifth-grade student at Siloam Springs Intermediate School, was congratulated by Superintendent Ken Ramey for being the Arkansas winner of the Doodle 4 Google competition as his brother Reece Huckeby and parents Paula and Jon Huckeby looked on. Google employees surprised Huckeby with the award during a school assembly on Thursday. Huckeby and 52 other winners, representing all the U.S. states and territories, will move on to the second stage of the competition where five national finalists will be selected by public vote. Votes may be cast online at www.doodle4google.com through March 5.
Janelle Jessen/Siloam Sunday Keenan Huckeby, a fifth-grade student at Siloam Springs Intermediate School, was congratulated by Superintendent Ken Ramey for being the Arkansas winner of the Doodle 4 Google competition as his brother Reece Huckeby and parents Paula and Jon Huckeby looked on. Google employees surprised Huckeby with the award during a school assembly on Thursday. Huckeby and 52 other winners, representing all the U.S. states and territories, will move on to the second stage of the competition where five national finalists will be selected by public vote. Votes may be cast online at www.doodle4google.com through March 5.

Keenan Huckeby, a fifth-grade student at the Siloam Springs Intermediate School, has a chance to have his art featured on the Google homepage next month and win some major scholarships for himself and his school.

Google employees Katy Casey and Paul Feneht surprised Huckeby with the news that he is the winner of the Arkansas Doodle 4 Google competition at a school assembly on Thursday. During the assembly Huckeby unveiled his artwork for classmates, and was also presented with an Android tablet and a Google T-shirt.

Google announced all 53 state and territory winners of the ninth annual competition this week. The public will now be voting to narrow the field to five national finalists. Online voting opened on Thursday evening and will continue through March 5. Anyone can cast a vote at www.doodle4google.com.

Feneht said that unlike many companies who take their logos very seriously, Google likes to have fun with its logo and often has fun doodles on its home page. The company has a doodle team responsible for the artwork, but once a year Google hosts a competition for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, he said. The national winner will be chosen from the five national finalists and will have their artwork featured on the Google homepage on March 31, Casey said.

The five national finalists will win a $5,000 scholarship, a Chromebook and a trip to the Google Headquarters in California, where they will visit with the Google Doodle team. The national winner will receive a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 Google for Education Technology award for their school.

The theme for this year's competition was "What I see for the future..." Google employees and a group of celebrity judges, including Jimmy Kimmel, Olympic athletes, NASA employees, the animators behind Pikachu, and Disney artists and illustrators, chose the 53 winners from thousands of entries, Casey said.

"Creativity isn't just on the Google team, a lot of times it actually starts in school," she said.

Huckeby's artwork depicts floating cities with a spotlight on the word "Google." Huckeby said he did the art project at home and said he was inspired by the floating hoverboards in the movie "Back to the Future II," explaining that floating cities could create more room.

"I see a future with new technology and architecture we've never seen before," Huckeby said. "Cities will float on top of other cities."

Huckeby said he began working on the design around Halloween and explored several ideas before finishing just in time for the December deadline. Even though he is excited to be recognized for his artwork by Google, he said he is more interested in a career as an international pilot.

His father, Jon Huckeby, a local artist for DaySpring, said that Keenan is a quick study when it comes to art and most other subjects as well. He and his wife Paula found out that Keenan was the Arkansas winner several weeks ago.

"We were just so happy and proud for him," Jon said. "Keeping it a secret was the toughest part."

General News on 02/26/2017