PHOENIX – Piper Sehman, a fifth-grade student at BASIS School in Scottsdale and Fountain Hills resident, has been selected winner of the nationwide No Burn Day Video Contest, sponsored by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Maricopa County Air Quality Department.

Piper’s 30-second video, which used animated Lego characters, was selected by a panel of judges as best overall and most creative. It delivered the message of why Phoenix metropolitan residents should not burn wood in fireplaces, outdoor fire pits and chimineas on high pollution advisory days during the winter, especially during the holiday season, because of the negative effects of soot on public health.

“Piper’s innovative video succinctly delivered a message about the benefits of cleaner air during our holiday season in a way that really engages the viewer,” said ADEQ Air Quality Division Director Eric Massey.

Nick Sehman, Piper’s father, said she worked on the video for dozens of hours after learning the animation style from her brother, and “our whole family is very excited about this since this is the first time Piper has entered a contest.” Piper received a certificate of achievement from the central figure in the video contest part of this year’s campaign, the super hero No Burn Man, at a BASIS School assembly today.

Stephanie Zlateva of Mountain View, California, received an honorable mention from the judges for a video she created on her iPad using cut-away images to deliver a strong message about refraining from generating wood smoke on No Burn days.

Both of the videos will be used in this year’s “No Burn Day? Don’t Burn Wood!” winter outreach campaign. The campaign is intended to raise public awareness of the harmful health impacts of wood burning on wintertime No Burn Days in Maricopa County. The campaign asks county residents and businesses to refrain from burning wood on days when a stagnant air inversion traps smoke in the Valley, resulting in a high pollution advisory or health watch designation.