photo by: Contributed photo

Elliot Smith's submission for Doodle For Google competition, titled “Earthward, Inward, Outward,” features three forms of kindness she believes contributes to a "solid, harmonious community."

The artwork of a recent Free State High School graduate is up for a national competition hosted by one of the biggest tech companies in the world.

Elliot Smith, who graduated from Free State this past spring, said her submission of a Google “doodle” was selected as the Kansas representative for the company’s national Doodle for Google competition.

“I’m very excited and honored,” Smith told the Journal-World on Thursday. “It always feels good to have your work recognized by people and I’m humbled by the response.”

Google’s doodles are recreations of the search engine’s logo that are sometimes shown on its main webpage, usually for some sort of special occasion. The annual competition invites K-12 students to create their own Google doodle for the chance to have it featured on the website. Additionally, five finalists and an overall winner are awarded scholarships.

Lawrence residents can vote for Elliot’s submission to become a national finalist by visiting doodle4google.com. But they will have to hurry and vote on Friday because voting closes around 2 a.m. Saturday, which is about midnight in the pacific time zone. An overall winner will later be selected from the finalists by a group of judges and their artwork will be featured on the Google website for a day.

Smith’s doodle, titled “Earthward, Inward, Outward,” features images highlighting three forms of kindness she believes contributes to a “solid, harmonious community.”

On the left, a woman can be seen watering a plant showing kindness to the earth. In the center a boy can be seen painting, highlighting kindness to oneself. And on the right, a woman can be seen holding an umbrella for a boy as an example of kindness to others.

“So often when someone hears the word ‘kindness’ it’s boiled down to kindness to others,” Smith said. “But I think taking care of ourselves, our bodies, our souls, our needs as well as our earth and environment (are just as) important as showing compassion to others.”

photo by: Contributed photo

Recent Free State High School graduate Elliot Smith holds a package she received from Google that notified her that she was the Kansas winner in the company’s annual Doodle For Google competition. Smith’s submission for the art competition is up for public vote to become a finalist in the national award.

As the Kansas winner, Smith’s artwork is up for vote against many other submissions from other states to be selected as a Google doodle. While there are 54 submissions, one for each state and four U.S. territories, a finalist from five age groups will be selected and then one of those five will be the overall winner.

If she is a finalist or wins the whole competition, Smith would be awarded scholarship funds that she plans to help pay for her college tuition. Finalists will be awarded $5,000 and the winner will receive $30,000. The winner would also earn a $50,000 technology package for their school.

Julie Boyle, a spokeswoman for the Lawrence school district, said the district encourages everyone to vote for Smith’s submission.

“We’re super proud of her artistic accomplishment and especially appreciate that showing kindness is this year’s contest theme,” Boyle said in an email.

Boyle also noted Alesia Brovtcyna, who was a West Middle School student at the time, was selected as the Kansas winner in 2017.

The scholarship funding would be helpful to Smith. She said she was accepted into Duke University, a prestigious private institution in North Carolina that she called her “dream school.” The scholarship funding would go to help paying her tuition, which Smith said would help her family.

While at Duke, Smith said she currently plans to study psychology and minor in Spanish. She said she hopes to eventually work as a therapist or possibly as a special education teacher. But before she heads off to Duke, Smith will be taking a gap year because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

While she will be studying psychology, Smith said she also plans to make time for art. Along with her artwork, Smith said she is also a photographer and a singer-songwriter. She said she plans to take some visual art courses at Duke and she was also invited to try out for a student-run record label.

“I definitely want to be involved in the arts community, wherever I’m living,” Smith said. “I just got an electric guitar and I’m teaching myself how to play.”

Smith and her family recently moved to Georgia, so she is no longer a Lawrence resident, she said. But those interested in her artwork, photography and music can visit her website, elliotcadence.com.