Why Assam
The 2014 theme asked Indian schoolchildren to name a place in their own country they wished to see. Reddy chose Assam, and her stated reason was short: it is rich in both natural beauty and culture. It is a northeastern state and an unobvious choice for a student in Maharashtra, roughly the width of the subcontinent away from her school.
That distance is part of the point of the theme. The contest was not asking children to draw home. It was asking them to draw somewhere they had not been, which turns a drawing competition into an exercise in what a child knows about a country most of which they will never visit.
The size of the Indian contest
Google India reported more than a million entries that year, submitted by students at over 2,100 schools across 50 cities. Few school art competitions anywhere operate at that scale, and the number is the strongest argument for how difficult a national win is.
The judging panel combined Indian illustration with the people who make doodles for a living: the political cartoonist Ajit Ninan, Savio Mascarenhas, art director of children's publishing at ACK Media, and Ryan Germick, who led Google's doodle team.
Children's Day
The result was announced on 12 November 2014 at an event in Delhi, and the winning doodle went onto Google's Indian homepage on 14 November, Children's Day. The timing is deliberate and has been a fixture of the Indian edition of the contest.
The same announcement recognised winners in three grade groups: Sarvagjna Miriyala of DAV Public School, Panvel, for Gods own country Kerala; V Sai Latha Rani of Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan, Vizag, for Ooty's beauty; and Y Sai Greeshma, also of Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan, for Heritage Glorified — Hampi. Reddy is named as the doodler whose work took the homepage.
What is documented — and what is not
Google India's own post is firm on her name, her class, her school, her city, her subject, her stated reason for choosing it, the theme, the entry count, the school and city counts, the judges and both dates.
It gives no age, no year of birth and no family detail. It does not state the prize she received, and it does not spell out how the national title related to the three grade-group awards, one of which covered grades seven to ten and so covered her own class. Nothing in the sources gathered here records what she has done since 2014. Those points are left open rather than resolved by guesswork.
A homepage measured in hundreds of millions
The prize in this contest is not really the trophy. It is the surface. Google's Indian homepage on a public holiday is among the most-viewed pages in the world on that day, and for the length of that day it belongs to one schoolchild's drawing.
Set the two numbers side by side and the shape of the achievement is clear: more than a million children entered, 2,100 schools took part across 50 cities, and one class IX student from Pune ended up representing all of them with a picture of a state she had not visited. The record of what followed is empty, but the record of what happened is precise.
Watch: Vaidehi Reddy on camera
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audrey Zhang | United States | Doodle 4 Google 2014 national winner | Age 9 |
| Vaidehi Reddy | India | A million entries, one Children's Day homepage, and a class IX drawing of | — |
| Gayatri Ketharaman | India | A tenth-grader in Pune was asked to draw Indian women, and Google India ra | — |
| 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 India 2014 with a doodle of Assam, as a class IX student at Army Public School, Pune
- The doodle ran on Google's Indian homepage on 14 November 2014, Children's Day
- Google India reported more than a million entries from over 2,100 schools across 50 cities
- The judges were Ajit Ninan, Savio Mascarenhas and Ryan Germick
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No age, year of birth or family detail in these sources
- The prize she received is not stated in the announcement
- How the national title related to the three grade-group awards is not spelled out
- Nothing documented about her since November 2014
Questions people ask about Vaidehi Reddy
How old is Vaidehi Reddy?
No source used here gives her age or year of birth. She was in class IX in 2014.
What did Vaidehi Reddy draw?
Assam, which she chose because it is rich in both natural beauty and culture.
Which school did she attend?
Army Public School in Pune.
When did the doodle appear?
On Google's Indian homepage on 14 November 2014, Children's Day. The result was announced two days earlier in Delhi.
How many students entered?
Google India reported more than a million entries from over 2,100 schools across 50 cities.
Who judged the contest?
The cartoonist Ajit Ninan, Savio Mascarenhas of ACK Media, and Ryan Germick of Google's doodle team.
What prize did she receive?
Google India's announcement does not state the prize, and no other source used here supplies it.
Where is Vaidehi Reddy now?
No source in this record states what she is doing now. The documented trail ends in November 2014.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Reddy’s story?
Which state did Vaidehi Reddy draw?
On what day did her doodle run on Google India?
How many entries did Google India report in 2014?
Sources
- Finale: This year on Children's Day we showcase ‘A place in India I wish to visit’ — Official Google India Blog, 2014-11-12
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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