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. For a community to be eligible to win, its mayor must first sign a pledge to support healthy living. As of Oct. 1, a total of 484 communities are involved, including Georgetown, according to the website.

The competition is designed 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 or implementing health initiatives for their own community. Schools earn points when teachers upload photos and videos of students participating in healthy activities or organize community projects such as playground cleanups or group walks. Businesses and organization leaders sign pledges to support the health of their employees and can also take on community projects.

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

Individuals earn points by uploading photos and videos of themselves exercising or eating healthy or by hosting a healthy house party or neighborhood events focused on health. Although individuals are capable of earning points for their communities on their own, a community cannot win unless its mayor signs on. So far, 526,253 individuals have actively participated this year.

The competition breaks communities down into five size categories: metro, large, medium, small and extra-small. Every city in Texas has already been preregistered by the event's organizers into the appropriate category. A winner will be selected for each group by the end of the competition.

Winners receive statewide recognition, a trophy, street banners and a $1,000 grant to support a health project at a local school.

View more details about the competition—including a full list of eligible communities for each size category as well as how individuals can get involved—by visiting www.hebcommunitychallenge.com.