And the winner is …

Nearly 68,000 online votes were cast in USA WEEKEND’s first Make A Difference Day All-Star Award competition. The winner: Lucas Metropulos, 19, a Duke University freshman, with 22,420 votes.

Not far behind Metropulos were the brothers of Delta Sigma Pi, a collegiate business fraternity, and Addie Kenney, 9, and her sister, Delany, 10, of Guilford, Conn.

The nine finalists, who ranged in age from 9 to 99, were chosen from the ranks of previous National Make A Difference Day honorees for their continued excellence. USA WEEKEND’s Make A Difference Day is the nation’s largest day of volunteering; the next event is Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012.

Metropulos won his first award in 2010 for a program that teaches underprivileged kids to fish and help feed their families in his hometown of Boca Raton, Fla. Last Make A Difference Day, he expanded his efforts to include projects in Boca Raton and Durham, N.C., where he goes to college. Check out this video Lucas made after winning his first Make A Difference Day Award.

The All-Star Award includes a $10,000 donation from USA WEEKEND and the Gannett Foundation; Metropulos will split it evenly between the Florence Fuller Child Development Centers of Boca Raton, Fla., and the Ronald McDonald House of Durham.

This year’s 10 Make A Difference Day National Awards, with donations of $100,000 from Newman’s Own, will be announced in USA WEEKEND April 13-15.