About Town: New shine to awards

2009/09/05

Winners of the Nextgen Contentpreneur Awards 2009 set a higher bar for the broadcasting, multimedia and communications industries

A NEW generation of contentpreneurs — young talents engaged in creating content for the broadcasting, multimedia and communications industries — is paving the way for pioneering work.

The Nextgen Contentpreneur Awards (NCA) 2009, organised by Astro Entertainment Sdn Bhd (AESB) for the second consecutive year, targeted students from local universities and colleges nationwide who submitted original entries in multiple disciplines, ranging from visual effects, animation, graphic design, short-form television content, music video and web design.

“Discovering new talent is a valuable asset for our industry,” says AESB executive director Zainir Aminullah.

“Overall, the response to this year’s competition was upbeat with an increase in the quality of entries. It was indeed an enlightening experience sieving through the submissions and deciding on the winning entries.”

NCA 2009, a collaboration between AESB, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission(MCMC) and Multimedia Development Corporation, is a platform for tertiary students to generate fresh ideas and creative content in their application of multimedia, broadcasting and communication skills.

Zainir (fifth from left) with NCA 2009 winners

“The NCA is an opportunity to build a strong talent resource,” adds Zainir.

“Judging by the quality of this year’s entries, there is a pool of creative students capable of elevating local content standards to a much higher plane.”

The judging panel, comprising Freddie Fernandez, Azizi Adnan, Dr Megat Al Imran Yasin, Muhammad Usamah Zaid Yasin and Nik Ramzi Nik Hassan, selected the winners based on creativity and execution.

AESB hopes that the winners will be offered career opportunities or grants to develop their entries into larger scale projects. Astro is also looking to expand NCA’s reach in the future by building a network that encourages the participation of other industries such as production houses and software companies, and serves as a resource pipeline to the industry.

Zainir (left) and MCMC acting chairman Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi at a press conference