I'm Giving Up My Smartphone For A Year – Vitaminwater Challenge

Could you live without your smartphone for a year? A filmmaker and YA fantasy author from New York is about to try in an effort to win $100,000.

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Vitaminwater launched a contest in December, offering one contestant the opportunity to end up with six figures should he or she be able to go a full year without engaging with a smartphone or tablet.

After sorting through over 100,000 entries submitted on Twitter and Instagram detailing how they would approach the challenge, Vitaminwater named the company's chosen candidate on Friday.

Elana Mugdan, 30, submitted an infomercial-style video on Twitter that impressed the judges with its unique approach and humor. "She stood out for her originality and creative take on our challenge," says Natalia Suarez, associate brand manager at Coca-Cola (Vitaminwater's parent company).

Mugdan is trading in her iPhone 5S for a Kyocera flip phone provided by Vitaminwater. For the next year, she can't use any smartphones or tablets at all, even those belonging to other people. She will be able to use laptops and desktop computers. Devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo are OK, too, as long as they're not hooked up to a smartphone.

Getting picked to compete came as an absolute surprise to Mugdan. "I really thought that I was a good fit for it, but this was the kind of thing I never expected that I would actually win," Mugdan tells CNBC Make It.

"At first I was in shock [when they called me]. I'm kind of an anxious person, so I was having a panic attack," she says. But shock quickly turned to anticipation, and now she feels she's up for the challenge.

"I'm kind of excited," she says. "I'm very conscious of the fact that I'm super dependent" on her phone, adding that she, like many millennials, wastes a lot of time throughout the day doing "mindless scrolling."

That's a habit she hopes this competition forces her to break.

The upcoming year without a smartphone will be "an adventure," she says. "It's a challenge for me, but I believe I'm equal to it."

How she heard about the contest

The chosen contestant almost didn't enter at all, because she didn't know it was happening. "I kind of live under a rock," Mugdan says. "I honestly I would never have found out about this independently, but I had friends who messaged me and they sent me the articles."

Even then, she procrastinated. "I was distracted with book stuff, but it was always in the back of my mind," she says.

Finally, she sat down and filmed her entry while her friends were over for a holiday party. "I was just like, 'I'm going to have fun with it,'" she says.

The prize money was the biggest motivator. "I really need help — I'm mega poor," she says. "Writing is not paying the bills yet." To earn a living, she works as a receptionist at a luxury real estate firm out on Long Island.

But the idea of getting rid of her smartphone also appealed to her. Mugdan admits she's not the best in social situations and sometimes uses her phone as "a crutch." So she sees the competition as an opportunity to grow.

"I really need to get better with the human interaction aspect of my life," she says. "I think being without the phone and having to navigate the social waters on my own without the use of technology will be a really great learning experience for me, actually."

Read more about Elana's challenge here

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This millennial will give up a smartphone for a year to win $100,000 in the Vitaminwater challenge | CNBC Make It.