The Plastic to Earth Machine
The idea behind the winning drawing was a machine that would take plastic waste and return it to the earth, cleaning the planet in the process. Google India published it under a headline describing a nine-year-old doodling his dream of a greener planet, which is the framing the competition invites: entrants are asked to draw a wish rather than a scene.
What separates a winning doodle from a good drawing in this competition is the idea's legibility at homepage size. The Google logo has six letters to work with, and a doodle has to carry a concept through them while remaining recognisable as the word Google. A machine with an input and an output is well suited to that constraint, which is part of why the drawing worked.
Children's Day on the homepage
The winning doodle ran on Google's Indian homepage on 14 November, Children's Day in India. That placement is the actual prize, more than any cheque: for one day, an entire country's default view of the internet carries a nine-year-old's drawing.
Google's Indian edition of the competition has consistently used that date, tying the announcement of a children's art contest to the national day for children. It gives the result a fixed annual rhythm and guarantees the winner an audience measured in tens of millions.
A Class 3 pupil from Visakhapatnam
Karthik was in Class 3 at Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan in Visakhapatnam, the port city on the Andhra Pradesh coast. At nine he was among the youngest entrants the Indian competition draws, which is competing across a field that runs the full range of school years.
That age spread is the unusual feature of Doodle 4 Google. Entries are grouped, but the national winner is chosen from the whole field, so a Class 3 drawing can be judged against the work of teenagers with several more years of training. Winning from the youngest end of that range is the part of the result that is genuinely hard.
Where P. Karthik is now
No source used here reports anything about Karthik after the 2015 announcement. Whether he continued drawing, what he studied, and where he is now are not in this record.
That is the normal shape of Doodle 4 Google coverage: an announcement post on the company's own blog, a day of national visibility, and then nothing. The competition is not designed to launch careers and does not track its winners, so the absence of a follow-up says nothing about what became of him.
What the competition is for
Doodle 4 Google asks schoolchildren to redraw the company's logo around a prompt, and runs in national editions with their own themes and judging. In India it has become one of the largest art competitions open to school pupils, precisely because the prize is visibility rather than money and because entry requires nothing more than paper.
Its environmental streak is not accidental. Prompts that ask children what they wish for reliably produce drawings about cleaning the planet, and machines that undo pollution are among the most common answers a child gives when asked to imagine a better world. Karthik's Plastic to Earth Machine is a precise example of the form, and it won the year it was drawn.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matteo Lopez | United States | Winner, 2011 US Doodle 4 Google, aged 7 | Age 7 |
| Varsha Gupta | India | Winner, Doodle 4 Google India 2011, aged 7 | Age 7 |
| P. Karthik | India | Winner, Doodle 4 Google India 2015, aged 9 | Age 9 |
| Anvita Prashant Telang | India | Winner, Doodle 4 Google India 2016, aged 11 | Age 11 |
| Akshay Raj | India | Winner, 2nd Doodle 4 Google India, 2010, aged 14 | Age 14 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Winner of Doodle 4 Google India 2015 at the age of nine, announced by Google India on 14 November 2015
- The doodle, a 'Plastic to Earth Machine', ran on Google's Indian homepage for Children's Day
- Pupil in Class 3 at Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan, Visakhapatnam
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No exact date of birth published
- No prize amount stated in the sources used here
- No reporting found on his life or work after 2015
Questions people ask about P. Karthik
How old was P. Karthik when he won?
Nine. He was in Class 3 at Sri Prakash Vidyaniketan in Visakhapatnam when Google India announced the result in November 2015.
What was his doodle called?
The Plastic to Earth Machine — a machine that would turn plastic waste back into earth for a greener planet.
When was the doodle shown?
On 14 November 2015, Children's Day in India, on Google's Indian homepage.
Where is P. Karthik from?
Visakhapatnam, the port city on the Andhra Pradesh coast.
Where is P. Karthik now?
No source used here reports anything about him after the 2015 announcement. His later schooling and work are not documented in this record.
Is P. Karthik on Wikipedia?
He has no Wikipedia article of his own. The win is recorded on Google India's official blog.
What is Doodle 4 Google?
A competition in which schoolchildren redraw the Google logo around a prompt. National editions are judged separately, and the winning doodle runs on that country's Google homepage.
Did he win money?
The sources used here record the homepage placement but do not state a prize amount.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Karthik’s story?
What did P. Karthik's winning doodle depict?
On which day was the doodle shown in India?
How old was he when he won?
Sources
- 9 year old doodles his dream to make 'Plastic to Earth Machine' for a greener planet — Official Google India Blog, 2015-11-14
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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