Showcasing the best talents all around!
By Emillio Rodrigues & Preeti Nair, Photos by Firdaus Firlany
The 25th of January 2013 marked Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s 4th Annual M:idea Youth Choice Awards, MYCA for short. The event was hosted at Zouk, MYCA’s venue sponsor for the second consecutive year. MYCA 2013 was organised by Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s very own Year 3 Mass Communication students, currently undergoing their internships at M:idea. Zouk was packed with Ngee Ann Polytechnic lecturers, students as well as a host of celebrities nominated for the various awards which were up for grabs. Fans were also out in their full force as they fervently cheered on their idols. The theme for this year’s MYCA was Pop Out.
Ms Anita Kwan, director of the School of Film & Media Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, kick started proceedings with a welcome speech thanking the generous sponsors and the overwhelming support of all in attendance to help make the M:idea Youth Choice Awards a success for the fourth year running.
Ms Anita Kwan, director of the School of Film & Media Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic
After which the emcees Ryo and Pearlyn began announcing the nominees and respective prize winners for each of the twelve categories. The awards were given to the recipient(s) with the most number of votes on the MYCA website. This year, the number of votes shattered its previous record with an impressive 260,000 votes nationwide. Below is a list of the prize winners:
My Super Skin Savior – The Body Shop
My Favorite Tech Buddy – Samsung
My Fast Food Craving – Carl’s Jr.
My Frozen Sweet Treats – Island Creamery
My Ultimate Fashion Fix – Uniqlo
My Perfect Party Place – St James Power Station
My Hottest Girl Crush – Jesseca Liu
My Rock & Roll Rumble – The Sam Willows
My Maestro Muse – Vanessa Faith
My Coolest Online Personality – Noah Yap
My Incredible Teen Icon – Ming Bridges
My Cutest Boy-Next-Door – Elvin Ng
On this fun-filled evening, MYCA 2013 also featured a performance line-up of promising local talents. The crowd was entertained by the banging beats of Baracuda Batucada, Ngee Ann’s very own percussion club, and also the intense moves of a young and fresh dance crew, The Pentament. MYCA was also graced with a three-song set from Vanessa Faith where she showed off her standout vocals and her songwriting talent with three original compositions. She walked away with the My Maestro Muse Award and was indeed pleased to see how students today are taking on larger projects as compared to her time as a polytechnic student. Vanessa Faith also has a free track coming out on Valentine’s Day specially for her fans. Fans do keep a lookout!
Vanessa Faith, My Maestro Muse
Speaking of local artistes, the Sam Willows were also present and won their first ever MYCA award where their fans outvoted the fans of other local bands like The Cashew Chemists. Fans of the Sam Willows will be glad to know that the Sam Willows are working on completing their first album which is set to be released around the start of next year. So, if you have a liking for local music, their album would be something you should look out for in the coming year.
The Sam Willows, My Rock & Roll Rumble
To the surprise of the crowd at Zouk, the Coolest Online Personality crown went to Noah Yap, star of Jack Neo’s latest movie, “Ah Boys to Men”. When asked, Noah Yap was shocked that he received the award over stars such as Dee Kosh and Munah & Hizri who have been popular in the media scene for a longer period of time. Noah aims to make even better online videos this year with more wacky storylines. He also commented on how his next film, “Ah Boys To Men 2”, will really demonstrate the togetherness as well as the ups and downs of his platoon. It definitely sounds like a must-watch production!
Noah Yap, Coolest Online Personality
Not only the artists and media personalities walked away with prizes and acclaim but a few lucky fans and voters also won prizes such as x-mini speakers, gift vouchers from the kind sponsors, and even a Canon PowerShot G15 camera which was the grand prize of the lucky draw. The rest of the crowd at MYCA 2013 did not leave empty handed as they were all presented with goodie bags worth more than $200, containing items and vouchers from the various sponsors of the event such as The Body Shop, Shaw Theatres IMAX and even Swensons! They also received brightly coloured stickers as memorabilia of MYCA 2013 which was perfectly in line with the Pop Out theme.
MYCA 2013 also highlighted a very important environmental issue we currently face in Singapore. Aaron, a 19 year old final year student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic partnered with PUB for a campaign called “Let Aaron Shower”, to conserve water. He pledged not to shower until he had raised enough awareness about the issue, and ended up not showering for 13 days! Kudos to Aaron! And hopefully, this serves as a lesson to everyone, that water is not a privilege and that we should do our best to conserve it!
Aaron from “Let Aaron Shower”
All in all, MYCA 2013 was a smashing success and everyone who attended the festivities had a memorable evening at Zouk and we definitely look forward to MYCA 2014!
