PRIZE WINNERS ’ DINNER
MAYBANK FOUNDATION-PERDANA LEADERSHI
Celebrating young Malaysian writers and photographers at the prize-giving of our Writing & Photo Contest
The Perdana Leadership Foundation kick-started the year 2016 with a bang ; the long-awaited and anticipated Prize Giving Ceremony for the Maybank Foundation-Perdana Leadership Foundation Writing & Photo Contest was held on 27th January 2016 . The ceremony opened with a welcome remark by Tan Sri Dato ’ Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor , Director and Chairman of Maybank , and Chairman of Maybank Foundation .
The ceremony then proceeded to a speech by the first guest speaker , Jonathan Yabut , winner of The Apprentice Asia Season 1 . He shared his experience during his time in The Apprentice and likened the show to a ( really long ) job interview .
He then shared his big tip on being successful : “ After having been part of The Apprentice Asia and working with Tan Sri Tony Fernandes , I realised that success also requires knowing when and how to say no . Humanity and research tells us that scientifically a person can accomplish one or two things at the same time . Trying to accomplish so many things in your life will only make you weaker because you will be spreading yourself too thin . Trying to become too many things will get you nowhere . This is where the media is wrong . The media tells us that we can become Taylor Swift , Mark Zuckerberg , and Mahatma Gandhi all at the same time . But really , we need to focus on one big thing , make a good name for ourselves out of it and work hard on it for many years .”
Next to take the spotlight was our nation ’ s own super-talented artist , Red Hong Yi . Born and raised in Kota Kinabalu , Red always dreamed of becoming an artist . She shared her struggles with the audience , as well as videos of her artwork which utilises many different mediums , including flowers , celery sticks , chopsticks and coffee stains ! 1 .
1 Red ’ s videos can be viewed on her You- Tube channel ( https :// www . youtube . com / user / ohiseeRED / videos )
WINNING PHOTO | 13-17 age group
WINNING PHOTO | 18-21 age group
“ The hardest part of creativity is not in coming up with an original idea . The hardest part is to make something happen despite your fears and doubts . I still have fear and doubt in me , even though I have created these bodies of work . The secret to creativity is , instead of running away from it , welcoming that fear and doing it anyway . So go out there and make something happen today !” Red urged the audience .
PRIZE WINNERS ’ DINNER
We organised a super-special prize winners ’ dinner before the prize-giving ceremony with the top three winners of all categories of the contest . The catch was this : while they knew they were in the top three , they did not know the final placing . So no one knew who the 1st prize winners were !
The dinner took place at the prestigious Berjaya Times Square Convention Centre . The CEO of Maybank Foundation , Encik Shahril Azuar Jimin , and the Executive Director of Perdana Leadership Foundation , Tan Sri Nik Mohamed Nik Yaacob , delivered the opening remarks , both eschewing formality for some welcome doses of light humour . Also in attendance at the event were the trustee of Maybank Foundation , Datuk Seri Paduka Marina Mahathir , contest judges , and representatives from The New Straits Times Press and MPH .
Guests of honour were our Malaysian-born international artist , Red Hong-Yi , and The Apprentice Asia 2013 winner , Jonathan Yabut . After dinner , tokens of appreciation were presented to all judges and contest partners before the highlight of the evening began : a dialogue session hosted by Malaysian sports commentator and columnist Ben Ibrahim , where both Red and Jonathan shared their journey as artist and young business leader , respectively .
16 PERDANA MAGAZINE 2016