Reva Savalia’s picture of monarch butterflies dancing around the word “Google” captured the judges’ attention in the 16th annual Doodle for Google contest, winning the Naperville 10-year-old a place in the tech giant’s national contest and a possible college scholarship prize.
Reva, who just completed the fourth grade at River Woods Elementary School in Naperville, was named the Illinois winner of Google’s art contest, selected from thousands of entries.
Students in kindergarten through 12th grade were eligible to participate in the contest. In recognition of Google’s 25th anniversary, they were asked to depict their wishes for the next 25 years through art.
After submissions were received in March, Google released its 55 winners, including one from each state as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and U.S. military bases.
The 55 finalists now will compete in the national contest, and the community has a chance to vote on their favorite through Tuesday, June 4, at https://doodles.google.com/d4g/.
One national winner’s artwork will be displayed on Google.com for a day in June. The national winner also will receive a $55,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology package for their school, some Google hardware and fun swag.
Reva Savalia, a 10-year-old Naperville student, submitted this image in the Doodle for Google contest, which asked contestants to depict their wish for the next 25 years. She said she was inspired to create the image because the monarch butterfly population is endangered and her wish is for that to change. (Google)
Five national finalists will have their doodles featured in the Doodle for Google gallery, receive a $5,000 college scholarship, Google hardware and other fun prizes. These finalists will be chosen in five categories: the Planet Award, Good Neighbor Award, Imagination Award, Biggest Smile Award and Tech Wiz Award.
Reva’s mom, Antara Prasad, discovered the contest and encouraged her daughter to participate, not realizing or expecting she would advance this far.
Reva said she loves to color and paint, especially animals and people, and she loves butterflies. The idea to incorporate the endangered monarch into her Google drawing was easy, she said.
But sketching was a bit more difficult.
To accomplish her task, Reva checked out books from the library and studied how the butterflies would look in flight. She then sketched, outlined and colored in the drawings with markers to create the winning submission.
Reva chose the monarch butterflies because of their endangered status.
“Once I learned that they were endangered, I wanted to spread awareness about them,” Reva said. “I love butterflies so my wish for the next 25 years is that they are not endangered anymore.”
She enjoys learning about the monarch butterflies’ migration patterns to Mexico since they cannot survive cold, northern winters. Their arrival in Mexico, which coincides with the Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, symbolizes the returns of the souls of the ancestors.
“I think it’s really beautiful,” Reva said, noting that she and her family visited Mexico City and saw monarch butterflies depicted in art in museums and throughout the city.
Reva’s parents said their daughter has always been creative.
Naperville student Reva Savalia, 10, second from left, poses with her family — mom Antara Prasad, from right, sister Asha Savalia, 12, and dad Sharad Savalia — with Reva’s submission in the Doodle for Google contest. Her Illinois win has put her into the national competition. (Michelle Mullins/Naperville Sun)
“We always try to pay attention to what (our children) are curious about and what they enjoy doing,” Prasad said. “Both she and her sister really enjoy painting and coloring and crafts. We do the best we can to give them more opportunities to do that.”
“She’s always been a very creative person,” her dad Sharad Savalia said. “We just encourage it. This happened to be one way to practice it.”
In addition to art, Reva also enjoys swimming, rock climbing, taekwondo and going on trips with her family, she said.
She said she was impressed with all the other Doodle for Google winners, but she’s cast her vote for her own artwork and hopes the Naperville community will do so as well.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
