James, who recorded a spoof of the Kony 2012 campaign, has won the Make Money on YouTube competition, launched in August by the Otago School of Business, Upstart Business Incubator and Audacious.
The competition, in which entrants produced their own videos and competed to get the most views, was open to Otago secondary school pupils.
It was designed to educate them about the benefits of micro-exporting and develop business talent in that sector.
James, whose entry was viewed 2801 times, won $1000 cash from Audacious and a $500 scholarship to the Otago School of Business.
Dunstan High School pupil Brad McKewen was second, with a video about multiple-player game Minecraft, while Henry Greenslade, from Waitaki Boys' High School, was third with a video documenting the destruction of laptops.
The competition was the brainchild of Rueben Skipper and Zoe Hobson from Upstart Business Incubator.
It received 126 entries from 19 schools.
"The aim of the competition was to foster entrepreneurial thought in the youth of Otago and I think we have achieved that," Mr Skipper said.
"It has allowed us to identify some talented individuals ...
[whom] we hope to assist in developing further," Mr Skipper added.
As well as scholarships to the School of Business, the trio will be invited to attend an Upstart business workshop.
They will take ownership of the Make Money on YouTube Facebook page which will be transformed into a local YouTube creators hub.
