A wish made in a bad year
The 2009 theme was “What I Wish for the World”, and the world it was set against was not a comfortable one. Engelberth's title was A New Beginning, and her statement said what she meant by it: that out of the current crisis, discoveries would be found to help the Earth prosper once more.
That is an unusual thing for a sixth-grader to wish for. It is not a wish for the crisis to end but for it to produce something. The contest asked tens of thousands of children what they wanted for the world, and this answer treated the emergency as a starting condition rather than a disaster.
Nearly six million votes
Google reported that nearly six million online votes determined the winners from the pool of submitted doodles. That figure is the striking one in the 2009 announcement, because it means the winning drawing was not simply selected by a panel but endorsed at a scale most elections do not reach.
The awards ceremony was held at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum on 20 May 2009. The doodle went up on Google.com the following day, 21 May.
The prize, and who signed the announcement
Engelberth received a $15,000 college scholarship and a laptop computer. Bernard Harris Middle School in San Antonio received a $25,000 technology grant.
The announcement was posted by Marissa Mayer, then vice-president of search products and user experience, and Dennis Hwang, the company's webmaster manager and the person most associated with the doodle programme in its early years. It is a detail worth recording: in 2009 the contest was senior enough inside Google to be announced by the executive running search.
What is documented — and what is not
Google's own blog post is firm on the grade, the school, the city, the state, the title, the theme, her statement, the vote total, the ceremony date and venue, the homepage date and all three prize components. It is the record this page rests on.
It gives no age and no year of birth, names no family member, and does not describe what the drawing depicts beyond its title. The research record for this page also notes the surname appearing elsewhere as Cristin Engelberth, a spelling variant that Google's announcement does not use. Nothing in the sources gathered here says what she did after May 2009.
The years before the contest grew
The 2009 edition belongs to an earlier phase of the competition. The scholarship was $15,000 rather than the $30,000 of later years, the school grant was $25,000 rather than $50,000, and the prize included a laptop at a time when that still counted as a prize.
What has not changed is the shape of the thing: a national company hands its front page to a child for a day, and the child's school keeps the equipment. Seventeen years on, A New Beginning survives as a title, a one-sentence wish and a line in a company blog. That is the entire permanent record, and this page states no more than it contains.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audrey Zhang | United States | Doodle 4 Google 2014 national winner | Age 9 |
| Christin Engelberth | United States | Six million votes, one sixth-grader, and a drawing called A New Beginning | — |
| Vaidehi Reddy | India | A million entries, one Children's Day homepage, and a class IX drawing of | — |
| Jana Safia Panem | Canada | 465,000 Canadians voted, and a Toronto eleventh-grader's renewable-energy | — |
| Kim Patrick Saren | Philippines | Half a mythical bird, half a jeepney: the drawing that won the first Phili | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Won Doodle 4 Google 2009 with A New Beginning as a sixth-grader at Bernard Harris Middle School, San Antonio
- The doodle ran on Google.com on 21 May 2009, the day after the Cooper-Hewitt ceremony
- Received a $15,000 scholarship and a laptop; her school received a $25,000 technology grant
- Google reported nearly six million online votes in the 2009 contest
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No age or year of birth in these sources
- Google's announcement does not describe what the drawing depicts
- The spelling Cristin Engelberth appears elsewhere and is not resolved here
- Nothing documented about her after May 2009
Questions people ask about Christin Engelberth
How old is Christin Engelberth?
No source used here gives her age or year of birth. She was in sixth grade when she won in 2009.
What is her doodle called?
A New Beginning. It ran on Google.com on 21 May 2009.
What did she say about it?
That out of the current crisis, discoveries would be found to help the Earth prosper once more.
How much did she win?
A $15,000 college scholarship and a laptop, with a $25,000 technology grant for Bernard Harris Middle School.
How were the winners chosen?
Google reported that nearly six million online votes determined the winners from the pool of submitted doodles.
Is her name spelled Christin or Cristin?
Google's announcement spells it Christin. The variant Cristin Engelberth appears elsewhere and is noted here without being adopted.
Where is Christin Engelberth now?
No source in this record states what she is doing now. The documented trail ends in May 2009.
Is Christin Engelberth on Wikipedia?
She has no article of her own in the sources gathered here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Engelberth’s story?
What was Christin Engelberth's winning doodle called?
How many online votes did Google report for the 2009 contest?
Which school received the $25,000 technology grant?
Sources
- Announcing the 2009 Doodle 4 Google Winner — Official Google Blog, 2009-05-20
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
Discover More Child Prodigies
50+ stories of contemporary young geniuses changing chess, music, science, and art.
Explore All Prodigies →Related Child Prodigy Profiles
Audrey Zhang🇺🇸 United States — An 11-year-old's drawing of a water purifier became…
Sharon Sara🇺🇸 United States — Six girls, hands joined: a fifth-grader's drawing beat…
Arantza Peña Popo🇺🇸 United States — She reversed a photograph of her mother holding her — and…
Akilah Johnson🇺🇸 United States — A tenth-grader drew her own hair in box braids…
Milo Golding🇺🇸 United States — He asked his father how he kept going. The answer became a…
Rebecca Wu🇺🇸 United States — Three sisters, hot chocolate and a rainbow: the drawing…
