Doodle for Google Past Winners: Full List (2009–2026)

Quick answer: The most recent Doodle for Google national winner is Kameirah Johnson (2025–2026), who won with "Hair Power: The Crown That Grows From Us." The contest has run since 2008, and past national winners include Maisie Derlega (2024), Sophie Araque-Liu (2022), and Christin Engelberth (2009), among others documented below. Scholarship amounts have grown from $15,000 in the early years to $55,000 today.

If you've ever landed on Google's homepage and seen a kid's drawing instead of the usual logo, you've seen a Doodle for Google winner. I've spent a good chunk of time digging through Google's own archives, news coverage, and school press releases to put together the most complete list of doodle for google past winners I could verify — and I want to walk you through all of it.

Here's the thing. Most "past winners" roundups online are thin. They mention one or two recent years and call it a day. That's not going to cut it if you actually want to know how this contest has evolved, who's won, and what made their art stand out. So let's do this properly.

What Is Doodle for Google? A Quick Refresher

Before we get into the doodle for google winners list, a fast refresher for anyone who landed here without the full backstory. Doodle for Google is an annual art contest for K-12 students across the U.S. Every year, Google picks a theme, students submit original doodles built around that theme, judges narrow the field down, the public votes, and one national winner gets a scholarship plus a huge homepage moment.

If you want the full mechanics — eligibility, judging criteria, submission process — I've broken all of that down in What Is Doodle for Google: Full Guide. For now, let's focus on the people who've actually won it.

Doodle for Google Past Winners: The Full Table by Year

Okay, this is the part you're really here for. I pulled these directly from Google's official Doodles archive, Google's own blog.google announcements, and independent news coverage, so you're not getting recycled guesses.

A quick honest note before you scroll: a handful of years in the contest's 17-year history don't have a clean, single publicly-archived "winner name" the way recent years do. I'm marking those clearly instead of making something up, because accuracy matters more than a complete-looking table. I'm actively researching the remaining gaps (2010–2011, 2013–2021) and will update this table as soon as those are verified — so bookmark this page if you need the full picture.

You'll notice something interesting if you scan that scholarship column top to bottom. It's gone from $15,000 in 2009 to $55,000 today. That's not a random bump — it reflects how much bigger and more competitive this contest has become. Tens of thousands of kids submit every year now, and Google's clearly treating the prize money accordingly.

Recent Doodle for Google Winners, Explained

I don't want to just dump names and dates on you. The stories behind these wins are genuinely the best part, and I think they're worth actually reading, not just skimming.

Kameirah Johnson, 2025–2026 Doodle for Google Winner

Kameirah, a senior from Washington state, won with a piece called "Hair Power: The Crown That Grows From Us." Her doodle shows three women lying in the grass, their hair forming a crown-like shape — herself, her mom, and her sister. It's rooted in her real family history, and honestly, that's what makes it hit.

She was revealed as the winner on NBC's TODAY show — which, if you think about it, is a pretty wild moment for a high schooler.

Maisie Derlega, 2024 Doodle for Google Winner

Maisie's winning doodle answered the prompt "My wish for the next 25 years…" with a scene about her family's Sunday dinner tradition. She was notified she'd won through a prerecorded video message from Olivia Rodrigo, which is a fun detail most articles skip. You can read more about her story on Michigan's Stamps School page, since she went on to study art there.

Sophie Araque-Liu, 2022 Doodle for Google Winner

Sophie's piece, titled "Not Alone," answered the theme "I care for myself by…" with a drawing of herself hugging her mom — a tribute to the support she leaned on during the pandemic. That year's judging panel included Selena Gomez, which tells you a lot about how seriously Google treats the celebrity-judge angle for this contest.

Who Judges Doodle for Google? Past Judges By Year

Here's something that doesn't get talked about enough: who's actually judging this thing. It's not just Google employees sitting in a room. Over the years, guest judges have included:

• Selena Gomez (2021–2022 cycle)

• Giannis Antetokounmpo, NBA All-Star (2025–2026 cycle)

• Ashlie Crosson, 2025 National Teacher of the Year

• Each year's National Teacher of the Year is traditionally invited as a judge

I think this matters for your understanding of the contest because it shows Google isn't treating this as a side project. Bringing in athletes, musicians, and top educators every year is a real investment in making this feel like a big deal to the kids entering.

Doodle 4 Google International Winners: India, Canada, and Beyond

Quick tangent, but a useful one. The U.S. version isn't the only one running. Google has hosted international Doodle 4 Google contests too:

India — In 2022, the India edition received over 115,000 entries from more than 100 cities. That year's winner, Shlok Mukherjee from Kolkata, answered the theme "In the next 25 years, my India will…" with a piece about eco-friendly robotics.

Canada — The Canadian edition has run with prompts like "If I could invent anything I would invent…" and has included judges like retired astronaut Chris Hadfield.

If you're outside the U.S. and wondering whether you can participate, it's genuinely worth checking whether your country runs its own version. The structure tends to be nearly identical: regional finalists, public voting, national winner.

How to Find Even More Doodle for Google Past Winners (Step-By-Step)

If you want to go digging through the archive yourself — whether you're a teacher, a parent, or just curious — here's exactly how I'd do it.

Step 1: Go straight to the source.
Head to doodles.google/search and filter by the "Doodle for Google" tag. This is Google's own searchable archive, and it's the most reliable place to start.

Step 2: Cross-reference with Google's blog.
blog.google regularly publishes finalist and winner announcements with full names, themes, and backstories. Search "Doodle for Google" directly on the blog.

Step 3: Check regional news coverage.
Local winners often get covered by hometown outlets — school newspapers, local TV stations, city newsletters. These sources tend to have quotes and details you won't find in Google's own announcement.

Step 4: Look at university or school press pages.
If a winner later attends a specific school (like Maisie Derlega did at University of Michigan's Stamps School), that institution sometimes publishes a great in-depth profile.

Step 5: Note the gaps and don't guess.
Some years genuinely have thinner public documentation than others. If you can't verify a detail, don't fill it in with a guess — link out to the archive instead and let readers dig further themselves.

What Makes a Winning Doodle for Google Entry Stand Out?

I want to be upfront here: Google hasn't published an official scoring formula. But after going through years of finalists and winners, a few patterns show up again and again.

A personal, specific story wins over a generic idea. Kameirah's hair piece worked because it was about her actual family. Sophie's "Not Alone" worked because it was about her actual mom.

The theme connection has to be obvious. Judges are explicitly scoring how well the piece answers that year's prompt — not just whether it looks good.

Composition and color use matter technically, but honestly, less than you'd expect.

Emotional resonance is the real differentiator. The doodles that go viral are usually the ones that make you feel something within a few seconds of looking at them.

If you're helping a student prepare an entry, I'd genuinely start with the story, not the sketch. The art is just the delivery mechanism. For a full breakdown of the judging criteria and entry process, check out my guide on what is Doodle for Google.

Frequently Asked Questions About Doodle for Google Past Winners

Who was the very first Doodle for Google winner?
Christin Engelberth, a 6th-grader from San Antonio, Texas, won the first documented national contest in 2009 with a piece responding to that year's theme, per the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt announcement.

Who won Doodle for Google most recently?
Kameirah Johnson, a senior from Washington state, won the 2025–2026 contest with "Hair Power: The Crown That Grows From Us."

How much has the Doodle for Google scholarship grown over time?
It's grown from roughly $15,000 in the contest's early years to $55,000 for the national winner today, plus a $50,000 technology package for their school.

Can I see every past winner's actual artwork?
Yes — Google's Doodles archive hosts winning and finalist artwork going back through most of the contest's history.

Are past winners' doodles ever reused or referenced by Google again?
Google occasionally references past winners in later contest announcements and anniversary retrospectives, but each year's homepage feature is a one-time, 24-hour placement.

How many students compete for each national win?
Tens of thousands of submissions come in most years, narrowed down through state and territory rounds before the five national finalists are chosen.

Final Thoughts on Doodle for Google Past Winners

So, that's the full picture of doodle for google past winners as best as it can be documented right now. What strikes me most going through all of these stories back to back isn't the scholarship money or the homepage placement — it's how consistently personal these winning pieces are. A kid's hair. A family dinner. A hug with mom. That's the throughline across 17 years of this contest, and I think that's genuinely worth appreciating.

If you're researching this for a student, a classroom project, or just out of curiosity, bookmark the official Doodle for Google archive — it's the one source that'll always be current when the next winner gets announced.

Read more: How to Enter Doodle for Google 2026: Rules & Deadlines