Kelowna

Steven Cresswell says only one negative thing has happened since he found out he was a finalist in a continent-wide video contest and confessed to Castanet that he gets his ideas while unloading the dishwasher.

"Now my parents want me to always unload the dishwasher," says the teen.

Steven, a Grade 12 student at Kelowna Senior Secondary, says he found out he won a Xap/Bridges video contest last week when he walked into his drama class and his classmates "all rushed at me."

"A lot of my friends are in that class and one of them had found out I won on the website and was telling everyone," says Steven. "I was kinda scared, actually."

Steven was the only Canadian to make it to the final round of voting with his video, called "Rethink Everything." Steven says he thinks he won not only because he contacted the media to ask them to promote his cause, but because his video was different from the others.

"My video had a positive message," says Steven.

Steven went down to the local Bridges office in Kelowna Monday to accept his cheque for first place, which was $2,500. He says the novelty oversize cheque is now hanging on his wall.

Steven plans to use the money towards tuition at Vancouver Film School. "Tuition there is like $20,000, and I only have ten," says Steven. "So I'm going to work for another year and then go."

Steven says Vancouver Film School even left a comment on his video on YouTube. "They were like, 'Good video, hope to see you here soon.'"

Steven says he'd like to thank everyone who voted for him. "Don't get me wrong, I worked hard on the video ... but I wouldn't have won if people hadn't voted for me."

Link: Teen Canuck finalist in video contest Link: Watch Steven's video