Teens asked to 'take a walk'

Teenagers from across Nova Scotia are asked to "take a walk" for a chance to win great prizes including trip to Halifax and a spot on a special youth action team.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia and CTV have launched a province-wide contest to find youth to help them develop a walking program.

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia physical activity coordinator Fran Dunn said, “we know that Nova Scotians, including young Nova Scotians, are not active enough for their health and we want to find the best way to support them. We want youth to help us understand how we can support them to walk more through Heart and Stroke Walkabout, so we've launched this contest with CTV to find youth to help us with this task.”

Nova Scotians13-16 years of age are eligible to enter the video challenge. All they have to do is shoot a one-to-two-minute video that shows how to get young people to walk more and what walking in their town means to them. The contest closes Nov. 14. Full submission details are available at www.contest.walkaboutns.ca.

Semi-finalists in the one-of-a-kind contest will be determined by voters of all ages, who are encouraged to rank videos on Walkabout's YouTube channel. Ten winners will then be determined by the panel of judges. In addition to cool prizes including a cell phone and clothing, the winning videographers will form a Youth Action Team and come together in Halifax to inform a plan to encourage young people in Nova Scotia to walk more.

The contest is the latest component of the Heart&Stroke Walkabout initiative, which already includes an interactive website to support current walkers in the province. In addition to this contest, a media campaign for walking is also planned for launch later this month. “Developing a walking strategy for youth is one of several components of the initiative to ensure it provides a comprehensive approach to increasing physical activity in the province,” Dunn said. “Developing tools to support community, workplace and school settings are part of those current activities.”

The youth contest is sponsored by CTV with support from Rogers, Aerobic First, the Lord Nelson Hotel and Acadian. Heart&Stroke Walkabout is a five-year initiative of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection, and the Ecology Action Centre. Walkabout is supported by Pfizer, the presenting sponsor, Nova Scotia Department of Health, and Pharmasave.