Last night, at a suitably debauched and free booze-sodden party at the Gold Coast’s hippest hotel, Maui’s Matt Meola won $100,000 for best part in Innersection.

Innersection is the brainchild of Taylor Steele and Nathan Myers, a surf movie that came together through online viewer-ratings. Surfer’s sections were posted on the site, with the most popular going towards the movie. A full length DVD was released late last year, and everyone who bought it could then vote for their top five sections, with the overall winner getting the big cash prize.

As Nathan Myers wrote on the site:

Innersection likes to claim Meola as its poster child. And not just cause his boyish good looks and otherworldly aerials. Meola symbolizes the potential this project offers to talented-yet-unknown surfers. The club is no longer closed — Innersection just kicked down the doors.
Few people knew who this young Maui late-starter was before his section appeared in the Spring Round. He obviously didn’t win on popularity or the online population of Maui — Matt qualified because his surfing stood out.

Here’s the winning section:

Watching this clip, my only negative was Meola’s tube steez … until I got to the 3-minute mark, where he pulls in switch, on his backhand, gets completely pitted, comes out, switches stance, and blows tail with a grab-rail off the top.

Matt Meola is raw, 21-years-old, and 100 grand richer than he was yesterday.