Six beat 8,000 in journey to be better writers

Six beat 8,000 in journey to be better writers
Win DiGi trip to Ubud Literary Fest

KUALA LUMPUR , 16 August 2007: Six aspiring writers have won the chance to hone their creative skills when their Short Short Stories outshone more than 8,000 others in a contest by DiGi's creative expression platform Apostrophe.

Dann Toh Voo Ghee, 24; Georgette Tan, 29; Leroy Luar, 22; Liyana Yusof, 20; Saras Manickam, 51 and Suzanna Md Dahan, 32, will attend various programmes at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali in September.

They will get to share their experiences with established writers attending the region's premier literary gathering and learn from them the finer points of creative writing.

Apostrophe is DiGi's latest project to engage the community in exploring creativity by connecting like-minded individuals through an arts platform that reaches all Malaysians. Apostrophe's programmes and activities are run through the website www.apostrophegallery.com.

"The first phase of Apostrophe has come to fruition and culminates with the Short Short Story Showcase. With this programme, we have achieved our objective to provide the opportunity for creativity to be harnessed and nurtured via an enriching platform," said Tunku Alizakri Raja Muhammad Alias, DiGi's Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs.

Alizakri added, " Apostrophe reflects DiGi's core values of simplicity, innovation and best value. It simplifies the way in which Malaysians can connect with one another in expressing and appreciating creativity. Simply put, Apostrophe is an innovative platform through which any one can discover and develop their creative talents and win great prizes in the process."

The first programme, Short Short Story, ran from 15 June 2007 to 24 July 2007. The creative challenge for Short Short Story was simple: a story in 16 words or less, in English or Bahasa Malaysia. The winning six entries were selected from the top 16 entries shortlisted by the panel.

Alizakri said: "It's great that so many readily took up the challenge and embraced Apostrophe as a platform to express their creativity. We are overwhelmed by the more than 8,000 entries received via SMS and emails."

Apostrophe's programmes will all feature creative workshop sessions dubbed 'Expression Sessions'. These Expression Sessions will be facilitated by selected mentors who are well-established in the particular field of creativity of each programme. Present at the showcase were the three mentors who facilitated the Expression Sessions for Short Short Story - writer Dina Zaman, composer/singer Mia Palencia and poet/performer Jerome Kugan.

Short Short Story entries were reviewed and evaluated by a panel comprising Alizakri representing DiGi, the three mentors - Dina Zaman, Mia Palencia and Jerome Kugan - and Sharon Bakar who had organised the Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival.

The 16 shortlisted stories were converted into unique visual art pieces and displayed at the showcase event held at The Annexe in Central Market. These pieces will remain on public display till 19 August. Exhibition hours are from 11.00am to 7.00pm.

The six winners also won a MotoKRZR K1 mobile phone each.

Apostrophe's next programme, 'Postcards', commences in September and runs for three months. 'Postcards' will focus on creativity being expressed visually in postcard sized works of art. Details will be posted on www.apostrophegallery.com

"More programmes are lined up under Apostrophe for this year and next. We intend to throw the gauntlet again to the public and we hope that more will accept the challenge to explore their creative side," added Alizakri.

For more information, log on to www.apostrophegallery.com.

About DiGi
DiGi is Malaysia's fastest growing mobile operator driving innovation, simplicity and best value through DiGi Prepaid, DiGi Postpaid and DiGi Business .

Issued by:
Corporate Communications Department
DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd