It's Jason's big day

The guest of honour with the winners of AITI Next Innovation and Multimedia Award for Sustainable ICT Industry (ANIMASI) Pro-Digital Animation Challenge and the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) Essay Writing Competition. Click image to enlarge.

The Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) today held a prize presentation ceremony to the winners of the first AITI Next Innovation and Multimedia Award for Sustainable ICT Industry (ANIMASI) Pro-Digital Animation Challenge and the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) Essay Writing Competition at the Indera Samudra Grand Hall, The Empire Hotel and Country Club, Jerudong.

Present at the ceremony was Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar, Acting Minister of Communications as the guest of honour. The ceremony was also attended by the Acting Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Communications and Acting AITI Chairman, Yang Mulia Awang Abdul Mutalib bin POKSSDP Haji Mohd Yusof, Permanent Secretaries and Deputy Permanent Secretaries from other Government Ministries, AITI’s Members of the Authority, senior government officials, representatives from the telcos, ICT industry representatives as well as principals, teachers and participating students.

The Essay Writing Competition is one of the annual activities organized by AITI to commemorate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) which is celebrated internationally every 17th May. The essay topics were centered on this year’s WTISD theme – Women and girls in ICT. This competition was opened to local students from the primary, lower and upper secondary, as well as tertiary level of the government and private schools throughout Brunei from 17th May to 29th June 2012.

The judges of the essay writing competition observed an increase in the number of participants with over 120 entries for all categories this year with a remarkable improvement in the quality of essay submissions. In his remarks, AITI’s Chief Executive, Yang Mulia Awg Hj Yahkup bin Hj Menudin hoped that this competition would provide an avenue for students to express their views, challenge their critical thinking and argumentative skills and, most importantly, enhance their communication abilities.

I shall be posting more updates on the list of winners for this year’s competition and congratulations to the participants. It’s definitely a great initiative by AITI to run such competition.

Hj Yahkup bin Hj Menudin, Chief Executive of AITI shared his optimism in the digital media industry and hope to see the animation industry flourishing as the technology evolves, with growing demand for animators to contribute to the local contents, films, advertisements and television

Cinematicpro Services bagged the top award for ANIMASI

One of the winners for essay writing competition

PHMD also joined the competition

BruInnovEdu also one of the winners of ANIMASI

Three months after a detailed selection process, Siti Zirwatul Iradah bte Awg Adinin – a traffic policewoman at the Royal Brunei Police Force were finally chosen to represent Red Bull Brunei for the Sepang 1000km (S1K) Race.

Red Bull Malaysia had recently announced the six young men and women, Rezza Amir Ariff, Matthew Ng, Amrit Mirchandani, Taryn Lim, SITI ZIRWATUL and Andrea Tay will join the Red Bull Rookies Male and Female racing teams, setting the stage for an epic showdown at the Sepang 1000KM (S1K) Race this season where both teams will be battling for the prize of RM10,000 and determine which gender is the better racer. They will be led by anchor drivers Mark Darwin and Melissa Huang respectively.

The four were chosen from the top 16 candidates that came from Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore at the Red Bull Rookies Track Day after being judged on their lap time, poise, personality and driving skills, which was assisted by the renowned Pentagon Racing Team at the Sepang International Circuit today. In addition, their personality and character played a role in the selection of an all rounded individual.

“The Red Bull Rookies have always consistently placed well at the S1K race but this year, for the first time, we are fielding two teams – male and female, which will set the stage for a sizzling race this year. However, what is most important is the experience for them, as winning is secondary,” said Jyn Wee, Executive Director, Red Bull Malaysia.

Siti Zirwatul Iradah will be representing Brunei for Red Bull Rookies team. Congratulations!!!

The teams now comprise of 3 Malaysians, 1 Bruneian and 4 Singaporeans joining forces to secure top spots at the S1K race. Mark, Rezza and Taryn are Malaysians, while Melissa, Matthew, Amrit and Andrea hail from Singapore. Siti Zirwatul is the sole Bruneian in the team.

Team Manager of the Red Bull Rookies, Kenvin Low said, “We have searched for talents with steely determination, enduring physicality, strength of mind, and an energetic personality to be part of our multinational team. The four we have selected today have shown those specific qualities and more, proving their potential as rookie race car drivers.”

The drivers were evaluated on their basic driving and technical knowledge, proven personality and teamwork with high fitness levels. Red Bull Malaysia together with Asia Advanced Driving Academy has been working on the project since April 2012, with the aim of putting together a group of race drivers to represent the Red Bull Rookies.

The young drivers will undergo intensive training and testing to prepare them for the S1K race, which will be held on 6 – 8 December 2012. This also marks the first time in six years that the Red Bull Rookies have fielded two teams who will compete against each other and solve the age-old question of which gender is the better race car driver.

The Red Bull Rookies were formed in 2007, originally made up of passionate young women who had an interest in motorsports. Upon its success, the Red Bull Rookies team expanded its search to Singapore and Brunei to find, fund and nurture aspiring, up-and-coming driving talent by preparing them for Asia’s biggest endurance competition, the S1K race. The Red Bull Rookies will be equipped by Alpine Stars and Kenwood while the cars they race will be supported by Torco High Performance Lubricants and Motorsport Playground.

Whilst they will have much to learn, based on their performances during the gruelling selection process, this year’s S1K race will prove to be the most exciting season yet. Visit www.facebook.com/RedBullRookies for the latest news and updates.