These are the best Google Doodles by South African kids

A few months ago Google asked school children across South Africa to depict the 'South Africa of their dreams' in doodle form.

This was intended to mark 20 years of freedom, and after receiving thousands of entries they have finally announced the winners.

The 20 finalists were flown to a special awards ceremony in Johannesburg, where the winners recieved prizes including Android tablets and Google Play vouchers.

"The entries show how talented our children are. It is good that we have an event like Doodle 4 Google to encourage creativity and imagination among our children,” said  Deputy Minister of Communications Tembisa Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.

Katya Ludick, a Grade 8 pupil from Noordheuwel High School in Krugersdorp took the prize for the 12-14 age range and was the overall winner with her nature themed doodle depicting a South Africa free of poaching.

"In my South African dream,  there is no more poaching. We must fight for those that can’t speak,” Ludick said of her doodle, which will appear on Google's South African homepage on 3 December.

Her school meanwhile will receive a R100,000 technology grant.

The other winners are:

Kayleigh Breytenbach of Sabie Preparatory School, whose doodle took the prize for the 6-8 age range.

Zehiye Rahman of Clarendon Preparatory School for the 9-11 age range.

Alexandra Wuzyk of Secunda High School took the prize for the 15-17 age range.

Google has set up a gallery where you can see the top 20 entries.