Slow and steady might win the race to Google’s homepage for one Surprise teenager. 

Ninth-grader Ella Kinnersley’s drawing of a sloth sanctuary is the Arizona winner in the Doodle for Google competition. The tech company’s annual contest invites school-aged children to redesign the Google logo based on a theme, with a chance to be featured as a daily Google Doodle. 

Kinnersley’s drawing was picked as the winner out of all the entries submitted from Arizona students. Now, her drawing is in the national competition and all that stands between her and Google’s homepage are votes from the public.

Five winning drawings from across the United States, selected following an online vote, will be featured as a Google Doodle on the site’s homepage for a day. The public can vote until June 7 — Ella’s entry is in the “Grades 8-9” category. 

The Valley Vista High teen said she was “shocked” when she found out she was Arizona’s winner, and is excited that she might be able to work with Google’s team to animate her sloth drawing.

“I was really surprised,” she said. 

This year’s theme was “When I grow up, I hope…” 

Kinnersley wrote that she someday wants to work with sloths, slow-moving creatures found in rain forests. 

Her entry reads, “When I grow up I hope to be the proud owner of a sloth sanctuary. Since sloths are now classified as an endangered species, I would like to see a world where their habitats aren’t being destroyed. I need to keep my good boys safe.”

She told The Republic that she mostly does digital art, like the sloth drawing. While she still hopes to own a sloth sanctuary, she realizes there are other career opportunities out there for a digital artist. 

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“Now that I recently heard there’s a whole team on Google that makes the doodles, that would be cool,” she said. 

One national winner will also take home a $30,000 college scholarship and $50,000 for technology to donate to a charity of their choice.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @LilyAlta.

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