Back in August, 1Sky and Brighter Planet asked you to create a video message to inspire our next president to take bold climate action.  We received a large number of highly creative and deeply moving entries, which made choosing the top videos a difficult task for our judges.

But after much deliberation, we're happy to announce today the winners of the Climate Matters video contest:

• First prize: Climate Matters, by Steve Dempsey of Sammamish, WA
  
  
• Second prize: Ask the Children, by Barbara Lucas of Northville, MI
  
  
• Third prize (tie): This Lawn is Your Lawn, by Roger Doiron of Scarborough, ME
  
  
• Third prize (tie): Green to Blue by Elizabeth Klein of Cincinnati, OH

I've embedded all the winning videos below. On behalf of Brighter Planet and 1Sky, congratulations to the winners and all 12 finalists! You can view all these videos at the Climate Matters finalists page on Vimeo.

UPDATE, 10/30/08: Now you can put any of these videos on TV with just a few clicks -- visit this page to find out how.

The contest may be over, but we expect these videos to have a long life afterwards. The winning videos will be showcased on national television to a potential audience of 50 millions homes, and distributed to both presidential nominees along with every member of Congress.

But just how a long a life these videos will have really depends on you. Please take a look at the winners and finalists, then share your favorite videos with everyone by posting them on your blogs, websites or social network pages by using the 'share' and 'embed' buttons on the top right of each video.

Here are the winning entries:

1st Prize: Climate Matters from Steven Dempsey on Vimeo.

2nd Prize: Ask the Children from Barbara Lucas on Vimeo.

3rd Prize (tie): This Lawn is Your Lawn from Roger Doiron on Vimeo.

3rd Prize (tie): Green to Blue from Elizabeth Klein on Vimeo.