Two Kellyville and one Blacktown high school student were the prize winners in the innovative Youth Voices COVID-19 Video Competition for western Sydney .

Looking after your wellbeing , second place .

Get the Jab , third place .

First place went to Bridie O ’ Kelly , year 12 student at Richard Johnson Anglican College Oakhurst , with her entry A COVID Acronym .

Thomas Sahlieh , in year 11 at Kellyville High , took second place with Looking After Your Wellbeing , and third place went to Sonya Clarke , a year 7 student at William Clarke College Kellyville , with Get the Jab .

The trio were lauded for their attention-grabbing work at an online ceremony attended by more than 110 people from across the state .

The competition , which attracted 84 entries – 54 from western Sydney alone – invited students to enter a short video addressing one of three topic areas including COVID-19 vaccination , looking after your wellbeing during the pandemic or tackling COVID-19 misinformation .

Winner Bridie O ’ Kelly commended the Prevention Education and Research Unit ( PERU ) for recognising the need for innovative strategies to spread health and wellbeing information .

“ Thank you for empowering the youth of Sydney to have a voice

during the pandemic ,” Bridie said .

Blacktown Girls High School was awarded $ 2,000 towards a water refill station for being the western Sydney school with the highest number of entries .

Twelve other entries were awarded prizes for outstanding achievements across categories including critical thinking , creativity , courage , care and video concept .

“ Adolescents are more connected to media and social media than any other age group and often find it hard to make sense of the COVID-19 messages that they ’ re exposed to , which is why we wanted to raise youth voices with this competition ,” Professor Smita Shah , Director of PERU , said .

All winning entries of the Youth Voices COVID-19 Video Competition can be viewed on the PERU YouTube channel .

The competition was organised by Western Sydney Local Health District ’ s PERU in partnership with the School of Population Health UNSW . Prizes were donated by Australian Medical Association NSW , and the Blacktown and Hills Medical Practitioners Associations .

Winning entry The COVID Acronym .