Third-grader a finalist in Google art contest

The San Juan Island School District is in a budget crunch. A third-grader with a penchant for doodling hoped to help.

Tries to raise $25K for school with doodle

The San Juan Island School District is in a budget crunch.

A third-grader with a penchant for doodling hoped to help.

Quinton Warfel, 9, is a state finalist in the Doodle 4 Google competition, in which young artists decorated the Google logo with doodles related to the theme, “What if …”

Quinton’s doodle was selected from thousands of entries. He was one of 400 finalists hoping to advance to the next stage of the competition: the regional finals and a shot at the top prize: a $10,000 college scholarship, a $25,000 grant for the winner’s school, a laptop computer, a T-shirt printed with the winner’s doodle, and a trip to the Googleplex, Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

There are 10 regions; Quinton’s region consists of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington.

Monday, Quinton learned that his entry did not advance to the regional level. But his work is featured on the Doodle 4 Google Web site.

The regional winners will be posted for online public vote May 12-18. The national winner and finalists will be announced May 21 and the winning doodle posted on the Google homepage May 22.

Quinton explained his entry in a supporting statement:

“What if creatures from another planet came to earth? What if they were from another galaxy, another universe, or they could be from the future? Nobody would know. Would they be friendly, would they be mean, would they be gentle, would they be harsh? Nobody would know. How would they get here? Would they fly, would they transport, would they run, would they float? Nobody would know. Unless we googled them!”

Quinton said he’s been drawing since he was 2. He won three blue ribbons at the fair for his Lego art. He won a holiday art exhibit prize at Gallery San Juan for a colored pencil frog in a Christmas tree.

Quinton drew his doodle — or is it doodled his Google? — in about a half hour, after discussing ideas with his mom, Kristy, for a few weeks.

Quinton thinks it’s cool that his art could have generated some much-needed cash for the school district. If he had won, he had a request:

“The school has to put in a dessert bar in the cafeteria,” he said.

Actually, the money has to be used to establish or improve the school’s computer lab. But the contest did invite participants to dream.