Michelle Obama asks kids to step up for healthy lunch challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Know any kids with a knack for making healthy lunches? Michelle Obama might invite them to the White House.

The first lady once again is challenging the nation's children to dream up healthy lunch recipes, a now annual component of her Let's Move! campaign to reduce childhood obesity through diet and exercise.

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge - run in conjunction with public television station WGBH Boston and the federal departments of Agriculture and Education - invites 8- to 12-year-olds to submit original recipes for healthy and affordable lunches. Winners from each state and U.S. territory will be flown to Washington this summer for a "state dinner" for kids at the White House.

The recipes - which can be submitted online through April 30 - need to follow federal guidelines for healthy meals, which means produce should account for about half of each serving. Some of the winning recipes will be served at the White House dinner, and all will be included in a digital cookbook.

For more in the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, visit PBS.org/LunchTimeChallenge.