The winners of the 2025 PBS KIDS Writers Contest have been announced!
Nominate an exceptional West Virginia teacher today!
On Demand
On Demand
Watch locally produced documentaries & more.
On Demand
On Demand
West Virginia Morning
Inside Appalachia
West Virginia Week
Mountain Stage
Us & Them
The Legislature Today
Send us your comments and questions.
Stream our board meetings.
Check out the latest WVPB news.
Sign up for our newsletter and get weekly updates.
Meet the WVPB staff.
WV Educational Broadcasting Authority, the WVPB Foundation, and the Friends of WVPB.
Come work with us!
Sponsor impactful and engaging media and entertainment.
Use your IRA to make a gift to WVPB.
Become a member with your gift of $1,000 or more.
When the students at North Elementary School in Morgantown were called to a surprise assembly Thursday morning, they had no idea that one of them – a second grade student named Tarannom Rajaee – had won the statewide Doodle 4 Google contest.
The annual competition challenges grade-school students nationwide to design a doodle, or a fun take of the Google logo. This year’s contest theme was “What I see for the future.” Tarannom’s doodle depicts life on Mars.
“It’s unexplored,” she said. “People can go on Mars and do new discoveries to learn more about Mars and see if once Mars had water or a breathable atmosphere, something.”
Google notified Tarannom’s parents and her school more than a month ago – but instructed them to keep it a secret from Tarannom until the assembly, where Senator Shelly Moore Capito and two employees from Google announced her success.
“It was hard for us to keep this secret, but we tried until today,” said Mehdi Rajaee, Tarannom’s father. “We just (stood) outside of the gym, just looking for Tarannom, because if she saw us she would figure out what was going on. It’s kind of hard.”
Tarannom’s mother Zahra Abbasi said she was proud of Tarannom and not at all surprised that her daughter has talent. In fact, Abbasi said Tarannom can create art even better than what she drew for Google.
“I know she could do better than this. She uses (her) imagination very well,” Abbasi said. “She is (talented).”
As the statewide winner, Tarannom won a tablet computer and a t-shirt featuring her design. Her doodle will now compete at the national level. The national winner is selected partially by a public vote, and the winning doodle will be featured on google.com for one day.
