Nine-year old Puru Pratap Singh was well-known in his Sector 43 branch of Amity International School, Gurgaon, as a gifted artist, but the many trophies he won in inter-school art competitions fade before his latest achievement. The class IV student has won Google India ‘s nationwide doodling competition, Doodle4Google, which called for creative designs and sketches of the Google logo. “It feels special to have won it,” says Singh, gravely. His doodle, on the theme, My India —Full of Life, was chosen from 4,000 nationwide entries through an online poll. It will be displayed on the Google India homepage today, to celebrate Children’s Day.

“I heard about the contest in August and had just two days to make the doodle,” he recalls. He adds that he spends more time painting than studying or playing video games. “My mother and brother helped me with the design,” he adds. After a few rough sketches and two hours of painting, Singh completed the award-winning design.

His design, he explains, symbolises India’s diversity and national pride. The ‘G’ has been styled as the national bird, the peacock, with its crest sporting the four main religious symbols of the country. The following ‘O’ appears as an open book to represent the Indian wisdom, the second ‘O’ is painted blue as a tribute to India’s moon-mission Chandrayaan finding water on the moon. The other ‘G’ is in the shape of Kashmir symbolising India’s crown and the ‘L’ is depicted with an inverted rifle that reminds one of the unknown soldier at Amar Jawan Jyoti while the final ‘E’ is represented as Gandhiji with his walking stick. “These symbols make my country unique,” says Singh, who won a T-shirt with his doodle printed on it, a laptop and a Rs 1 lakh art education grant for his school. Although there will not be any royalty paid to him, a profile of his will pop up next to his doodle.