Second-grader wins annual Doodle for Google contest

For the past decade, tech giant Google has encouraged students to enter its Doodle for Google contest and has received hundreds of thousands of submissions.

The theme for 2018 was "what inspires me," and Google announced Tuesday the winner is Sarah Gomez-Lane, a second-grader in Falls Church, Virginia.

Google said it received doodles for everything from family to food to roller coasters. But it was Sarah’s drawing of dinosaurs and her dream to be a paleontologist that took the prize.

And for the first time in the 10-year history of the contest, the winner got to work with Google's doodle team to animate her drawing and have it on Google's homepage. Sarah also won $30,000 for college and $50,000 for her school.

Guest judges were “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, Kermit the Frog and the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, Mandy Manning.

The theme for 2019’s Doodle for Google contest is “When I grow up, I hope ... .”

The contest is open to students in grades K-12, and all submissions must be in by 8 p.m. PT on March 18. Rules and criteria are on the Doodle for Google page.

The search engine's doodle tradition began in 1998 when, according to the company itself, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin played around with the corporate logo "to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert."

Now there is an entire team of illustrators bringing biographies, history and interesting tidbits to life on Google’s homepage.

Here is a look back at some of the most popular 2018 doodles we covered: