While he didn't steal the show, among the award-winning celebrities in the audience at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was Miami University first-year Ben Parks - and he, too, won a coveted Moonman Award.

Along with nine of his high school friends from Chatham, Ill., Parks took home the Moonman for "Best Performance in a Pepsi Rock Band Video" at the 26th annual VMAs Sunday, Sept. 13.

According to Parks, it all started in summer 2009, when he and his friends decided to create a video for a contest sponsored by MTV, Pepsi and the Rock Band video game that offered the chance to win a Moonman Award and a free trip to New York.

"Basically, this summer we made a video for the MTV, Pepsi and Rock Band contest, and out of around 600 videos we were picked in the top five," Parks said. "The nation then voted for us to win the contest, which included a trip to New York City for a week and tickets to the VMAs where we won a Moonman."

In their video, Parks plays along to Lit's hit song "My Own Worst Enemy" as a member of the fictional band Nerds in Disguise. As the song plays in the background, the video tells the story of a party gone awry after a group of "nerds" invade.

According to Parks, everyone involved in the Nerds in Disguise video arrived in New York City Sept. 8, where the group took part in promotional events in conjunction with MTV and the other sponsors of the contest.

"We flew to New York and then got to go to MTV's studio where TRL used to be filmed," Parks said. "We formulated our acceptance speech that night and also got to meet some MTV executives and talk about how Rock Band came about and how long it took to make and everything. It was very interesting to sit down with those executives and pick their brain for hours to see how they got to where they are today."

According to Parks, highlights of the trip included a photo-shoot of the band members for the November issue of Spin magazine and a stop at a promotional AIDS benefit concert in Manhattan featuring Kid Cudi and Phoenix.

"On Sept. 9 we did a photo-shoot for Spin magazine that will be in the November issue," Parks said. "(We also) went to an AIDS benefit concert called Life Beat sponsored by Pepsi and Kid Cudi performed his new album and Phoenix performed."

The best part of the trip for Parks was still the VMAs.

"We got to go to the VMAs and sit down with all the artists and hang out with them which was a very neat experience; I got to meet a lot of cool people," Parks said. "We also got to go to rehearsal so we got to see what goes into production of the show and how they prepare for everything and we got to see all the performances prior to the show which was neat."

Matt Hartzler, director of the video, reiterated the excitement of the trip.

"The trip was a lot of fun because I got to see all these guys again and it was like a reunion since we've all been at college," Hartzler said. "Being in New York City for that period of time, the energy of the city was really interesting and doing all the press stuff and all the rehearsals and everything was just like a whirlwind."

Since his return to school Sept. 14, Parks said he noticed a little bit more of a celebrity status.

"I've gotten 'You're the kid who won that award' and 'You're the kid who won a VMA,' but it's just a title to face or something to recognize me by," Parks said. "But a lot of my family members are pretty excited about it and I've been getting a lot of phone calls asking for stories and stuff. It sort of feels like I'm being interrogated at times, but it's fun."

A recent recipient of a Moonman Award, Hartzler said everything is still sinking in.

"It still hasn't hit me yet," Hartzler said. "In terms of the whole experience, I'm still in shock mode. We're waiting for our Moonman (award) to come in the mail, but until then I'm still kind of in awe."

Parks agreed the entire experience has been surreal.

"I think I was just shocked when I got the call that we won, but at the same time I knew that we had worked very hard and deserved winning," Parks said. "We were all in a surreal state of mind pretty much the entire trip so it was a very enjoyable experience and hopefully it will pay off into the future."