Skyo Awards Winner of Dirty Little Secret Contest with Trip to The Thirst Project's 5th Annual Thirst Gala

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Jun 18, 2014, 05:09 ET

CHICAGO, June 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- University of Florida student Sylvia Lai is the winner of Skyo's Dirty Little Secret photo contest. In partnership with The Thirst Project, Skyo sponsored the contest to engage students nationwide in spreading the world's dirty little secret - that nearly one billion people do not have access to clean water.

Skyo brand logo (PRNewsFoto/Skyo)

Raising awareness of this stark reality was central to the Dirty Little Secret contest, in which students uploaded a selfie posed with a dirty bottle of water to Skyo's Facebook page. Fans and followers voted on their favorite photos, and Lai won with more than 2,500 votes.

"I snapped a selfie with my bottle of dirty water, shared the picture on all of my social media sites, carried my bottle of dirty water everywhere, and talked to just about anybody who would listen to me," Lai explained. "The response from my friends and my community was amazing... What started as a simple selfie soon turned into a movement to raise awareness about the need for clean water, and I couldn't be more grateful for the experience."

As the grand prize winner, Lai has been awarded a VIP package including airfare, transportation and more for two to The Thirst Project's 5^th Annual Thirst Gala, a star-studded event held to honor the extraordinary efforts of those who share the nonprofit's mission to end the global water crisis.This year's Thirst Gala will be held at the historic Beverly Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, June 24, and hosted by actress Jennifer Garner. Gala attendees include cast members from Glee, Twilight, MTV's Teen Wolf and more.

Acknowledging the impressive efforts of her fellow contestants, Lai extended her 'plus one' Gala invitation to the contest's second place winner Brianna Frame, a member of the West Islip Thirst Project chapter of New York. To learn more about Lai and Frame's support of The Thirst Project and their journey to the Thirst Gala, check out Skyo's The Blog at blog.skyo.com/thirst-project.

Skyo continues to partner with The Thirst Project on several education initiatives, including driving awareness of the nonprofit's Road Warrior internship program and title sponsorship of this year's Thirst Gala event. To learn more about Skyo, visit www.skyo.com. For more information regarding The Thirst Project go to www.thirstproject.org.

About Skyo
Find great deals in a smart fashion! Skyo is a collegiate shopping experience built for the way students, parents and alumni want to shop. Skyo promotes customer convenience with wide selections of affordable textbooks, apparel, gifts and technology. Skyo does the busy work so students can focus on what's important, their educational journey. For more information, please visit www.skyo.com.

About The Thirst Project (The Charity):
Almost 1 billion people on the planet do not have access to safe, clean water, and 4,400 kids under the age of five will die today from drinking dirty water. The Thirst Project is the world's leading YOUTH water activism organization. This movement of high school and college students builds freshwater wells in developing nations and impoverished communities to provide people with safe, clean water. The Thirst Project is a nonprofit organization that travels across the United States speaking at schools to educate students about the global water crisis and challenges them to fundraise to build wells. 100% of all public donations go directly to funding freshwater wells on the ground. We are really unique in that we have a private group of donors who fund 100% of the organization's "Overhead" so we can make this guarantee to the public. In just 5 years, The Thirst Project has activated more than 300,000 students, on 320 campuses across the United States, who have raised $8Million, 100% of which has been used to give more than 260,000 people in 12 countries safe, clean water.

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SOURCE Skyo