Here's what Damon an Rachel had to say - "He walks 12 kilometres every morning. That's like something from The Proclaimers.  Also: hats.  People don't wear enough hats anymore"

Congratulations to Steve and Helen. The most powerful handheld vacuum will be on it's way to you shortly.

For everyone else there is still the chance to win the 'People's Choice Award' which will close to voting on the 23 September. Good luck!

Don't forget to tune into Radio National Life Matters this morning at 9am to hear 2011's MOst Mentally Sexy Dad Rob and wife Colette talking with Richard Aedy and Mentally Sexy Judge Kate Hunter.

Although I always believed that this competition could do great things by going a step towards normalizing men in the caring/stay-at-home/domestic role, I severely underestimated the potential the Most Mentally Sexy Competition had. Not only has it acted as a platform for families to celebrate good Dads and husbands it has also encouraged people to talk openly about a whole host of gender and relationship issues through a dozen different forums.

A great feeling of community has developed and everyone involved from the judges, writers, regular Reservoir Dad visitors, sponsors, local community groups, media and (most importantly) the Mentally Sexy Dads and their families have shaped this competition and furthered its potential to affect many people in a very positive way.

After 10 months of hard work and good fun, 73 mentally sexy entries from all over Australia, the invaluable contributions from judges, writers, sponsors, community groups, journalists and volunteers, we finally have our winner.

As it's always hard to find a ‘winner’ in a competition like this – where every entrant is celebrated and the main purpose is to promote a positive message – a scoring system was developed to rank the Mentally Sexy Entries. Our Mentally Sexy Judges first narrowed the field down to a Top Five – Ian, Jeff M, Rob, Julian and Sam.

At the end of voting there was a total of six points separating the top five in total. It was close!

But there was a clear winner and we can now announce Australia’s Most Mentally Sexy Dad for 2011. Here he is -

I fail as a parent constantly. The key thing is trying to learn from those mistakes and to avoid repeating them. Perhaps the most vivid example in my memory was a few months ago with almost 4yo Ella. My wife Kel and I had agreed we wouldn't smack our kids, preferring other methods of discipline, but Ella had done everything to push my buttons one day and _ tired and over it _ I gave her a little tap on the leg. I'll never forget the look on Ella's face. She was devastated. I immediately regretted it. It may sound a bit trivial to some and really I know our girls are lucky to have parents who care and love them as much as we do, but it remains a situation I know I could have handled better.

Damon and Rachel have gone mad. Damon and Rachel have gone MAD!!

Staff members Damon Young and Rachel Power have put in another all-nighter sorting through mentally sexy entries and, as crazy as it seems, have decided to give away our third bonus prize to a lucky Dad.

All other entries currently up on the 2011 Most Mentally Sexy Dad page, whose entries have not been scored in the Top 5, are still in the running to win the other Dyson Handheld Animal Vacuum we have to give away.