Amala Darishna Naidu receives her award for Project Echo from one of the judges, Ms. Nur Mashita bt. Kamalun Ariffin

Dennis Lau giving his opinion on one of the performances, while (from right) Lam, Dino and Ms. Ooi, look on

Neo Tan pulls out all the stops for his Russian number

The Swaggerific Boyz receiving both praise and criticism from the judges after their performance

Kuala Lumpur, 9 July 2010 - UCSIU’s Got Talent was back for its second year running after crowning its first winner last year. This year’s competition was stiff, as dozens who were chosen were whittled down to ten semi-finalists, and finally to six finalists. The six performed at UCSI University’s Derierre Le Masque, a night of fun and mystery, organised by the University’s Student Council. Neo Tan Chee Hao emerged as the winner, after performing a Russian song by Vitas entitled Opera 2. The 1st runner up was the Swaggerific Boyz, a three-student band R&B who performed an original number. Indonesian student, David Suryadi came in third for his Spanish rendition of “You Raise Me Up”.

UCSIU’s Got Talent is an annual talent competition, jointly organised by the University’s Student Council and the Student Affairs Office. The competition is aimed at encouraging students exhibit their hidden talents, like singing, dancing, acting or even playing an instrument. Judges for the finals were Dennis Lau,  an electric  violinist,  pianist and  songwriter; Syed Farradino Omar (Dino),  producer,  host and  news  anchor for Astro Awani; Ooi Pei Boon, UCSI University Student Affairs Office Director; and Steve Lam, a former UCSI University student, and the creator of The Hive, an initiative which encourages and promotes independent bands.

The first place winner, Neo who took home a cheque worth RM1,000 hopes to use it to further develop his passion for singing. This third year Mechatronic Engineering student has been mentoring with a student from the University’s School of Music for the past year.

Guest judge, Dino said that he was pleasantly surprised at the level of talent exhibited by the students at the competition, “The students were really good at differentiating themselves, especially those who had practiced hard singing in a language which was foreign to them”.  Dennis Lau was also equally impressed with the contestants, “If I was a producer, I would sign some of them up for a recording deal”.

The other contestants who performed in the finals were Runway-18, a middle-eastern Metal band, balladeer, Michelle Hiew who performed a Celine Dion number, and “Opps”, a two-girl band who sang Reflection by Christina Aguilera.

This masquerade-themed party also saw more than 400 students in hand-made and store-bought masks vying to win the “Best Mask” competition. Mime performances, tarot card reading and magic shows also added to the “fairground” atmosphere.

The event was also the platform for the Student Council to choose the Project Echo ambassador. Project Echo was a month-long competition inviting proposals from students across all faculties on changes to make the UCSI University community more environmental conscious and friendly. Psychology student, Amala Darishna Naidu was declared the ambassador after beating two other finalists, Foundation in Science student, Mohamed Houssein Dahir and Mass Communications student, Pravena Jayakumar.