Photo courtesy of Google
The graphic on today’s Google homepage is the work of a homegrown artist.
Akilah Johnson, a 10th grader at Eastern Senior High School in Northeast, is the winner of the annual “Doodle 4 Google” contest. The D.C. native shows the world what she’s made of in her drawing titled “My Afrocentric Life.”
In a blog post, Johnson says that her interest in black culture came at an early age in the classroom. “As I grew older, I realized that the black people that came before us have made us into what we are today. So of course I had to include them in my doodle on the theme ‘What makes me…me,'” she writes.
The contest is in its 8th year, and Johnson is the first African American to win the national competition. In her drawing, she illustrates the word “Google” in the form of a box-braid, a hairstyle with African roots. In the background, she adds the word “Power,” the phrase “Black Lives Matter,” and a woman’s fist as “reflections on our society,” she writes.
As this is the first time D.C. students were allowed to participate in the “state” competition, Johnson also included illustrations of the Washington Monument and the D.C. flag “because I’m a Washingtonian at heart and I love my city with everything in me!” she continues.
Johnson’s winning doodle was selected based on artistic merit, creativity, and her ability to stay on theme. The contest’s 100,000 submissions were narrowed to 53 state and territory winners. Those shrank to five finalists, from which Johnson was chosen number one.
In addition to her daylong feature on Google’s homepage, she will receive a $30,000 college scholarship, and her school will get a $50,000 grant to boot.
Participating in the contest gave Johnson an understanding of why her art matters, she writes, “because it speaks to people,” and “no matter our differences, everyone is touched by art in some way. Winning this competition opened my eyes to the many types of art and the many ways it can resonate with people. I’m excited to keep creating art that matters.”
