It's Time Texas, a statewide grass-roots cause promoting healthy lifestyles, is encouraging communities throughout the state of Texas to join in a friendly competition to see who is the most dedicated to healthy living.

The Healthy at H-E-B Community Challenge, which began Sept. 1 and runs until Oct. 31, seeks to unite and motivate both individuals and organizations to make healthy living the norm in Texas. Although the competition has already started, an individual or community can enter the fray at any point.

Cities compete against each other by earning points for a variety of activities. The competition breaks communities down into five size categories, each of which will have a winner. Winners receive a trophy, street banners and a $1,000 grant to support a health project at a local school. For a city to be eligible to win, its mayor must sign a pledge to support healthy living.

Austin is being pitted against communities such as Fort Worth and Corpus Christi.

Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell said he is confident the city will fare well against its competition.

"We've always been known as a fit city," he said, noting local amenities such as parks, trails and pools. "I think we saw a big boost to [health and wellness] a few years ago with the First Lady's [fitness] effort, Let's Move, and we took that up right away. So we've been at it for a long time here, and I believe we've seen real benefits for the people and for the city as a whole."

The intent of the competition is to spotlight communities that are already dedicated to healthy living and to incentivize others to make healthy living a priority, said John Waterman, communications director with Active Life, the Austin-based nonprofit behind It's Time Texas.

Mayors earn points by making a video to challenge another mayor to join the competition, or by implementing health initiatives for their own community.

School principals, board members, superintendents and PTA members can all earn points by signing the pledge. Teachers can upload photos and videos of students participating in healthy activities or organize community projects, such as playground cleanups or group walks.

Children at Austin ISD schools, including Brown Elementary School, are participating. Some students are using pedometers to track the number of steps they take, according to Physical Education Specialist Paula Bowen. She said the challenge motivates students and informs families.

"I think we have a huge problem in our country regarding obesity, and I don't think people realize where we're at with that," she said. "... Educating the parents is going to be the key to fixing this problem."

Businesses and organization leaders—including faith-based and community organizations—sign pledges to support the health of their employees and can also take on community projects.

"We try to make it so people don't necessarily need to do things they're not already doing," Waterman said. "The idea is to spotlight and reward healthy behavior."

Local business Moxie Multisport LLC, which provides training to triathletes throughout Austin, is among those participating in this year's challenge. Founder Blake Uptain said that with as much exercise as Moxie's athletes do already, signing up for the challenge was a no-brainer.

"We try to be very active in the community, especially with youth development," he said. "We volunteer heavily just to give back and help bolster some more involvement from the parents and get kids out from behind the computer screen."

He said the group holds weekly bike rides followed by dinners to promote healthy eating.

Individuals earn points by uploading photos and videos of themselves exercising or eating healthy, by hosting a healthy house party or organizing an event focused on health.

"The intent is to touch on all main aspects of a community," Waterman said.

More details are available at www.hebcommunitychallenge.com.