The heartwarming story behind the latest Google Doodle

Typically, Google Doodles honor famous personalities or historical events (and, sometimes, surprisingly addictive games). The latest Google Doodle is none of those things, but the illustration has its own heartwarming backstory.

The doodle was drawn by Georgia high school student Arantza Peña Popo, who created the doodle as a tribute to her mother. Popo beat out more than 200,000 other entrants in Google’s Annual “Doodle for Google” contest. Her art will be featured on the Google homepage in the United States for 24 hours beginning at 12 a.m ET on Tuesday, August 13.

Popo’s artwork was inspired by a family photo of her mother and younger sister. The framed image in the background is based off the family photo, while the two older women in the foreground represent Popo’s (pictured in blue) desire to one day take care of her own mother. 

“I looked at the photograph of my mother (the real version that inspired the drawing) and thought, ‘Hey, why don’t I reverse it?'” she wrote in a statement. “When I grow up, I hope to care for my mom as much as she cared for me my entire life.”

Besides the bragging rights that come with getting your art on front page of the biggest search engine in the world, winning entries also get $30,000 in scholarship money and a “technology package” worth $50,000 for the school or nonprofit of their choice.