Newbury Park resident Tara Schmidt, 13, was recently named the grand-prize winner of the OmniPod "Making Diabetes a Smaller Part of Your Life" national video contest.

The competition was sponsored by Insulet Corporation, which uses tubing-free insulin pump technology in its OmniPod Insulin Management System.

The competition encouraged OmniPod users to share their stories about how the tubing-free pod makes it easier for them to manage their diabetes.

Tara was chosen by five judges who are OmniPod users for her video titled "Tara and the OmniPod." She will receive a MacBook Pro Notebook computer.

Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 11, Tara talks in her video about how before OmniPod she was dependent on her mother to give her insulin shots every day, including at school during lunch. "OmniPod allowed me to start playing sports again. I love field hockey and play year-round. With no tubing, I don't have to worry about it getting caught on my field hockey stick," Tara said. "It's pretty tough, too. I can wrestle or play rugby or flag football during PE class. There's no sport I have to sit out."

For information about the contest, visit www.myomnipod.com/ videocontest/winners.