Author Archives: Sarah H

Announcing the Winning Team for the AdMob Student App Challenge

We’re excited to announce the winners of the 2016 AdMob Student App Challenge, an app building competition for students. Over 100 student teams from around the world took on the challenge to build a great app and monetize it using AdMob, with a chance to win awesome prizes.

After reviewing our 4 regional finalists, our judges have selected the global winner who will receive will receive a trip to San Francisco, including a visit to the Googleplex. Chris Akhavnr, a judge for the Challenge and President of Publishing, Glu Mobile, enjoyed reviewing the apps, noting that “After reading the business reports, I was impressed by the amount of thought each team put into their app. I'm sure these finalists will go on to have a big impact in the mobile ecosystem."


Drumroll please…


Global Winner - Turbo Rocket Games

About the team
Turbo Rocket Games is a team of four: Vladimir, Yaroslava, Illya, and Serhii from Kiev, Ukraine. Vladimir and Serhii are studying informatics at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Yaroslava and Illya are studying computer science at Brock University. To build the app effectively, the team divided the work so everyone could focus on the aspect they were best at. As the project lead, Vladimir focused on managing the development process while Yaroslava took charge of game design. As programmers, Illya and Serhii worked in tandem to write the code for the game.

About the app
Dragon Sim Online is a game where you can become a dragon and play online with friends or by yourself. The app provides a true simulation experience by challenging players to maintain their dragons’ health and energy, raise a family of dragons, fight dangerous enemies and explore the massive 3D world. The app has been downloaded over 500K times worldwide with an average review of 4.5 stars.

Congratulations to Turbo Rocket Games and thanks again to every single student who participated!

Henry Wang

Product Marketing, AdMob

Regional Finalists Announced for the AdMob Student Challenge

Since January, students from around the world have been submitting entries for the AdMob Student App Challenge. Students around the world were challenged to build an app that that demonstrates their skills and monetize it with AdMob. Today, we are excited to announce the four regional finalists, hand picked based on app quality and traffic.

The regional finalists are made up of the top entry in each of our 4 participating regions - North America, Europe/Middle East/Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America. Their apps have made a huge splash in the Google Play Store, with over 500,000 downloads and 10,000 reviews combined! Each member of the regional finalist teams will receive brand new Pixel C tablets and advance into the final round where the global winner will receive a seven night trip to San Francisco and a visit to Googleplex.

North America:
Team: Dodo Built
Average review: 4.6 / 5.0
Block Havoc is North America’s finalist, and deservingly so! The app is an extremely entertaining game with endless modes and patterns that challenges users to improve their reaction time on a beautiful and polished interface.

Latin America:
Team: KUNIC Apps
Average review: 5.0 / 5.0
And, LATAM’s finalist is #booleaning, a handy and well-featured calculator for boolean functions. This productivity application looks professional and is designed to save users’ time with built in logic operators, like NOT, AND, OR.

Asia/Pacific:
Team: Upskew
Average review: 4.5 / 5.0
Encode: Learn to Code is APAC’s finalist, differentiating themselves with an extremely straightforward and fun way to teach beginners how to code. The simple and intuitive tutorials and lessons allowed users to immerse themselves to build a quick and strong foundation.

Europe/Middle East/Africa:
Team: Turbo Rocket Games
Average review: 4.4 / 5.0
Our last finalist is Dragon Sim Online, an addictive game with outstanding graphics. The application provides an epic adventure that allows you to engage and join other online players through beautiful flying and fighting animation to level up in this fantasy world.

Congratulations to the Regional Finalists, and thank you again to everyone who participated. The Global Winner will be announced on August 25, 2016, so stay tuned!

Cindy Tran

The AdMob Challenge Team

The results are in for the 2016 Google Online Marketing Challenge!

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The Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) provides a hands-on learning platform for students around the world to develop their online marketing skills and gain practical experience working with real businesses and non-profits to solve real problems and produce real results.

Every year Google gives thousands of student teams across the world an AdWords budget of US$250 to spend on a 3-week online marketing campaign for a business or non-profit of their choice. Students also have the option to create and manage a Google+ page for their client to help further boost their online presence and engage the community.


The teams that develop and communicate the most successful campaigns win awesome prizes, including a trip to Google, a donation to their non-profit partner, digital devices and more. This year over 500 professors and 10,000 students from more than 60 countries competed in the Challenge and we are happy to announce the results are in!


Check out the AdWords Business, Social Media Marketing and Social Impact Winners below and the full list of the 2016 Team Results can be found on the GOMC Past Challenges page.


AdWords Business Awards

Global Winners
  • The Global Winning team comes from the ESG UQAM - School of Management Sciences in Canada, under Professor Harold Boeck. The team of James Forbes, Nicolas Archambault-Doucet, Esme Fentener Levi and Thomas St-Amour worked with Alvéole, a company that helps people and organizations install and care for urban honeybee colonies.
Regional Winners
  • The Americas Winner comes from James Madison University in the United States, under Professor Theresa B. Clarke. The team of Lynn Radocha, Alexander Adley, Maianh Phan, John Thompson and Cari Ross worked with the Rockingham/Harrisonburg SPCA, a non-profit animal rescue shelter that provides care for all dogs, cats, and other small animals until they can be adopted into a safe, permanent home.
  • The Asia & Pacific Winner comes from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, under Professor Shilpa Sawant in India. The team of Aniruddha Pandhare, Devarsh Ganatra, Urvi Talaty, Dhananjay Thaker, Akash Pandey and Rini Antony worked with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan, a non-profit Trust that invests in various medical and social welfare initiatives to transform the lives of the poor and needy in the drought prone ‘Marathwada’ region of Maharashtra.
  • The Europe Winner comes from the University of Turku in Finland, under Professor Joni Salminen. The team of Elina Ojala, Miia Bergström, Paula Suominen and Emma Jalonen worked with ResQ, a recently founded company with a mission to help consumers “rescue” leftovers from restaurants and acquire quality meals at a cheap price, while restaurants profit from selling food that would have otherwise been wasted.
  • The Middle East & Africa Winner comes from Daystar University in Kenya, under Professor Maranga Moriasi. The team of Jeffrey Kanae, Moses Njeri Khatiebere, Evelyne Magaju, Sharone Awuori Tindi and Roselinda Were worked with Youth on the Move, a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower youth with epilepsy to build their skills, stand up for themselves and transform their desires into realistic plans and actions.

Google+ Social Media Marketing Awards

Global Winners
  • The Global Winner comes from the Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering in India under Professor Khushali Deulkar. The team of Rosanlal Behera, Niki Jain, Harsh Jain, Chandrasekhar Raman, Pratik Bhambhani and Aayushi Dholakia worked with Kossine, a Neebal initiative and coaching institute that specializes in teaching Computer Programming and Electronics courses to students.
Regional Winners
  • The Americas Winner comes from James Madison University in the United States, under Professor Theresa B. Clarke. The team of Matt Deters, Molly McDevitt, Caitlin Fikac, Natalie Krewin and Claudia Schnorbus worked with the Poricy Park Conservancy, a non-profit that preserves 250 acres of open space, prehistoric fossil beds, and the historic Murray Farmhouse for the surrounding community.
  • The Asia & Pacific Winner comes from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, under Professor Shilpa Sawant in India. The team of Aniruddha Pandhare, Devarsh Ganatra, Urvi Talaty, Dhananjay Thaker, Akash Pandey and Rini Antony worked with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan, a non-profit Trust that invests in various medical and social welfare initiatives to transform the lives of the poor and needy in the drought prone ‘Marathwada’ region of Maharashtra.
  • The Europe Winner comes from Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania, under Professor Elena Vitkauskaitė. The team of Mantas Mitrauskas, Merita Simanavičiūtė, Agnė Raulinavičiūtė, Severina Sekrytė and Paulina Lazauskaitė worked with Dalinuosi.lt, an online sharing platform that promotes the protection of the environment and stimulates responsible usage by allowing people to lend their goods or borrow them from other consumers.
  • The Middle East & Africa Winner comes from the Institute of Management Technology, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, under Professor Ali Zalzala. The team of Pratiksha Kumar, Shikhar Ahuja and Rahul Jain worked with Community Tracks, a non-profit in California that has a global agenda to provide under-served communities with sustainable technology solutions and associated education services that enhance the quality of life.

AdWords Social Impact Awards

  • The 1st Place Winner comes from James Madison University in the United States, under Professor Theresa B. Clarke. The team of Emily Maynard, Jacob Shibley, Christine Provino, Jacob Brown and Amy Goffe worked with the Children's Science Center, a non-profit children’s science museum focused on hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) learning and providing unique opportunities for children to explore, create and be inspired.
  • The 2nd Place Winner comes from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, under Professor Shilpa Sawant in India. The team of Aniruddha Pandhare, Devarsh Ganatra, Urvi Talaty, Dhananjay Thaker, Akash Pandey and Rini Antony worked with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Vaidyakiya Pratishthan, a non-profit Trust that invests in various medical and social welfare initiatives to transform the lives of the poor and needy in the drought prone ‘Marathwada’ region of Maharashtra.
  • The 3rd Place Winner comes from James Madison University in the United States, under Professor Theresa B. Clarke. The team of Lynn Radocha, Alexander Adley, Maianh Phan, John Thompson and Cari Ross worked with the Rockingham/Harrisonburg SPCA, a non-profit animal rescue shelter that provides care for all dogs, cats, and other small animals until they can be adopted into a safe, permanent home.
Congratulations to the 2016 winners and a big round of applause for all teams that participated in the Google Online Marketing Challenge this year!

To learn more about the Google Online Marketing Challenge and to pre-register for next year’s competition, please watch the GOMC video and visit our website: www.google.com/onlinechallenge.

Winner Spotlight: “Pay it Forward” Contest Winners Visit Google

In honor of Black History Month, we launched our third annual “Pay It Forward” contest to find and recognize undergraduate and MBA students positively impacting their local Black communities. After reviewing an incredible range of submissions from undergraduates and business school students, we’re pleased to announce our winners:

Undergraduate winners:
  • Ariana Brazier (2013 BOLD Immersion participant) is the former President of the Spelman College section of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). This summer, Ariana will be conducting research on homelessness before starting a Ph.D. program at the University of Pittsburgh.
  • Rachel McKenzie is the former Vice President of the Spelman College section of NCNW. This summer, Rachel will be joining Teach for America.

MBA winners:
  • Stephen Worthy is the former co-President of Detroit Revitalization & Business Initiative (Detroit R&B) at the Ross School of Business. This summer, Steve will begin working with J.P. Morgan in New York with hopes of returning to Detroit to continue his commitment to his hometown.
  • Benjamin Stickel is the former co-President of Detroit R&B. He will be returning to Detroit to continue his impact within his community while working at the Boston Consulting Group.

Both teams were awarded an all-expense paid trip to Google’s Headquarters and here’s a photo recap of their experience:

  1. They had a front row seat to experience Google’s campus and culture.
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  1. They connected with Googlers through coffee chats, resume workshops with Google recruiters and as they walked around campus.
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  1. They had an inside look at Google’s products.
“It was really cool to see that innovative side of Google that you always hear about” commented Ben Stickel (pictured far left) after an inside look at Google Cardboard virtual reality. IMG_0335.JPG

  1. They presented their work to Googlers.
Pictured below: Steve Worthy and Benjamin Stickel speaking about their work with the Detroit Revitalization & Business Initiative. Together, they pioneered Minds of Business (MoB), a mentorship program that mobilizes MBAs to serve as mentors to Detroit youth. To date, they have partnered with two Detroit public schools and covered topics such as  Accounting, Entrepreneurship, and Marketing.
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  1. They inspired Googlers to step out of their comfort zones and continue striving to be agents of change in their communities.
Pictured below: Ariana and Rachel leading an ice-breaker used by the Spelman College section of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). Ariana and Rachel, during their tenure as President and Vice President, respectively, have placed great emphasis on their general body meetings because of the opportunities that they provide for “members to fellowship and empower themselves through constructive and reflective activities.”  
Join us in congratulating NCNW, R&B and all the incredible student organizations that entered the Pay it Forward contest. Please consider entering the contest next February!

We have your ticket to travel back in time to Google Games 2016!

We just wrapped up five weeks of epic adventure during Google Games, and this is your golden ticket to experience all the fun!  Google Games is an annual event that allows us to bring Google’s culture, a lot of entertainment, and some friendly competition to computer science students across North America.  This year, the games were hosted in 14 different cities, and we were introduced to nearly 2,000 challenge-seeking undergraduate students from 60 different universities.  

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From the patio on Google’s campus in Sunnyvale to a rooftop in Chicago, there were 17 events in 14 different cities across North America.


Participants, encouraged to dress up in costume, encountered different challenges including Trivia, Building, Puzzles, Word Association and Coding.  We awarded prizes to the top three teams at each location who had the most points at the end of the day.  The Spirit Award was presented to the teams with a contagious energy or who got creative with this year’s theme - time travel!  

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Teams went head to head competing in five different challenge categories, and the winners were able to take home some well deserved Google SWAG.



Team “Liveware Problem” in Waterloo was the only team to solve every single coding question - 18 problems in 75 minutes.  In Cambridge, team “Benevolent Bodacious Barbarians Plus Plus” finished the puzzle challenge with a top score across all locations.  A huge congratulations to all the teams who were crowned the winners at each site.

  • Giant Hand from the University of Texas at Austin
  • ); DROP TABLE teams; -- from Princeton University
  • Liveware Problem from the University Of Waterloo
  • We're Bad At This from Carnegie Mellon University
  • UNO CS Squad from the University Of New Orleans
  • Thyme Lords from New York University
  • Volcano Volcanoes from the University Of Washington, Seattle
  • Chrono Crew from the University Of Maryland College Park
  • Shuai's Guys from Northwestern University Illinois
  • Jumping Jalapeños from Georgia Institute Of Technology
  • nibbles ᕕ( ՞ ᗜ ՞ )ᕗ from Stanford University
  • EPOCH FAIL from the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT)
  • Team Avocado from San Jose State University
  • Tyrannosaurus Rekt from WPI Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  • Doctor Poo from the California Institute Of Technology
  • Ultimate Norf from Harvey Mudd College
  • Team a4c1bed85s0365c from the University Of British Columbia

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The Building challenge at Google Games involved some creative thinking and many straws.  



Add Google Students to your circles on Google+ to learn more about next year’s competition.  We hope to see you there and uncover your passion for computer science.

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2016 Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities


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As part of Google's ongoing commitment to advancing computing and technology, we are pleased to provide scholarships to encourage students to excel in their studies and become active role models and leaders. In partnership with EmployAbility, we are excited to announce this year’s recipients of The Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities.
Please join us in congratulating the following recipients, along with the universities they attend:
  • Alyssa Milburn, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Tim Dettmers, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Cristina Isabel Font, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
  • Massimo Giordano, University of Trento, Italy
  • Hannah Evan, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Jakub Tomek, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
  • Jens Heuschkel, TU Darmstadt, Germany
  • Dmitri Katz, Open University, Israel
  • Trung Hieu Nguyen, Aalto University, Finland
Each scholar will receive 7,000 Euros to support their studies for the 2016/2017 academic year. All scholars have been selected based on their passion for Computer Science, academic achievement, leadership, and technical accomplishments.

Applications for the 2017 Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities will open in October. Follow our updates on this blog for information about when applications will open.

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Posted by Maya Tudor, EMEA Diversity Scholarships Program Manager

Presenting our 2016 Google scholarship recipients!


Here at Google, we strive to create meaningful connections with rising computer science talent by creating programs that engage students from around the world. While these individuals come from  different backgrounds and experiences, many have faced the challenge of being underrepresented in the tech industry. We’re working to change that.

As part of our initiatives focused on expanding diversity, Google offers scholarships that support and encourage underrepresented students to pursue careers in computer science and become part of the next generation of tech leaders. We recently selected recipients from the following scholarship programs:


We’re excited to announce the 2016 recipients of these scholarships, and congratulate them for their hard work and dedication. These students will join a community of Google scholars who are actively changing the diversity status quo in the tech industry. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for these exceptional students!

Writing the best business report for the AdMob Student App Challenge



With less than two weeks left in the AdMob Student App Challenge, you should now be working on your business reports. In order to qualify, your team must submit a business report along with your app so please review the guidelines. Here are some tips to help you write your business report:

  • The presentation and layout are easy - just follow the template on the AdMob website, and provide logical and cohesive explanations on each step of your decision-making process.
  • Give examples along the way. This does not necessarily mean flashy and colorful graphics, but a clear marketing strategy and an examples of your app’s performance will go a long way with the panel.
  • Don’t worry about having the report translated to English. Submit the business report in the language you are most comfortable with.  
  • It’s important to make sure your business report demonstrates a sound strategy behind the choices made when integrating AdMob into the app.
  • With your marketing strategy, talk about how you have already marketed your app, and what you’re doing to get the word out about your app and to maximize downloads.

While time is running short, continue to promote your app, monitor feedback, and get your business report wrapped up. The submission deadline is June 28, 2016 by 5:00PM PST, and this includes both your mobile app and business report. As always, follow us on AdMob G+ and Twitter for updates and keep an update on #AdMobSAC16 too, for any last-minute posts.

Posted by Jeff Miner
AdMob Student App Challenge Team

Looking to the last month of the AdMob Student App Challenge

There is now a month left before the final submission date for the AdMob Student App Challenge. At this point in the contest, your team should have completed the design of your app, and it should be live on  the Google Play Store. For the remainder of the contest, we recommend that your team focus on the following:

  • Monitor user feedback so that you can make improvements as the app gets the feedback. Your app should be high quality, and part of that is improving it based on user suggestions.

  • Promote your app. Think about creative ways to do it. Next week, look for a post on promotional suggestions that are simple and effective.

  • Now is the time to start readying your business report, which is due on June 28, 2016 by 5:00PM PST through this link. The Challenge website already has a recommended template on it, and we will be sending out some pointers on having the best possible project soon.
    • Remember, your project will be reviewed by a panel of app experts from Google, so your business report will need to be thorough and of professional-level quality.

Continue to follow us on AdMob G+ and Twitter for updates on the last month of the Challenge and keep an update on #AdMobSAC16 too, for any last-minute posts.

Posted by Jeff Miner
AdMob Student App Challenge Team

Google Travel Grant Application: 2016 Grace Hopper Conference


As part of Google's ongoing commitment to increase the number of women in technology, we are excited to offer travel grants to the 2016 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference taking place in Houston, Texas from October 19 - 21, 2016. Once again, this year’s conference will offer incredible opportunities for mentoring, networking and career development.

University students and industry professionals in the US and Canada who are excelling in technology and passionate about supporting women in tech can apply for a travel grant to attend the 2016 Grace Hopper conference.

Sponsorship includes:
  • Conference registration
  • Round trip flight to Houston, TX (from within the US or Canada)
  • $75 USD reimbursement for miscellaneous travel costs  
  • Arranged hotel accommodations from October 18-22
  • A fun event with your travel grant recipients on one of the evenings of the conference!

Please apply here by Sunday, July 10, 2016. The Grace Hopper Travel Sponsorship winners will be announced by July 27th.

For questions, please email [email protected].