Judges have selected the winners of the Active After-school Communities (AASC) music video competition, which called on children to sing and perform their own dance to the Australian Sports Commission and Diabetes Australia’s Turning to Sport for Good Health campaign song: ‘Turn to sport and play for life’.

While active fun was a common theme through all the entries, there was feedback from the judging panels that the eight state and territory winning videos stood out for their creativity and originality, and the enthusiasm of the participants.

AASC state manager and South Australian judge Tim Baker described the entries as extremely good.

‘We weren’t sure what to expect as this was the first time that we’d run this sort of thing, and it was probably the first time some of the centres had done a music video,’ Baker said. ‘But all of the entries obviously put in quite a lot of effort and the energy was high across the board.’

In South Australia the outstanding entry came from Year 2 at St Anthony’s School in Edwardstown.

‘The 25 or so eight-year-olds in their video did their own routine while singing the song, and displayed a very high level of complexity in their routine for that age group,’ he said.

The winning sites across the states and territories were:

• South Australia: St Anthony’s School
• Western Australia: Landsdale Primary School
• Tasmania: St Therese’s Primary School
• Victoria: Hamilton Special Developmental School
• New South Wales: Quirindi Public School
• Australian Capital Territory: Curtin School Age Care
• Northern Territory: Braitling Primary School
• Queensland: East Brisbane Out of School Hours Care.

Winners received a $1000 HART Sport voucher to spend on sporting equipment to support delivery of the AASC program.

The competition was part of the Turning to Sport for Good Health campaign — a partnership between the Australian Sports Commission and Diabetes Australia. The campaign encouraged children to pursue a healthy lifestyle by playing sport and eating a balance of nutritious foods.

South Australian singer, songwriter and AASC regional coordinator Kristen Lawler wrote the campaign song ‘Turn to sport and play for life’. She also worked with AASC participants at Adelaide’s Meadows Primary School to record the soundtrack. Gymnastics Australia choreographed the accompanying hip-hop dance sequence.

A CD and DVD with actions and music were distributed to all AASC schools and after-school centres, and AASC children were then invited to create their own music video for the theme song.