Meet the winners of NYP Jam! 2012

As the winners of NYP Jam! sat in the 987FM studios, a surreal feeling began to settle in. Less than a week after winning their respective categories,  NYP champions Jereld Ang and Brendon Chua from The Façade and secondary school champion Tan Hui Min were about to be interviewed by Mediacorp Personality, Divian Nair.  They also had the opportunity to share their talents with 987FM’s listeners.

Tan Hui Min

Divian Nair with Hui Min at the 987FM studio.

“Divian is hot!” the 14-year old Hui Min gushed, “he’s very handsome!”


For this this petite vocal powerhouse from Teck Whye Secondary School, NYP Jam! was her first singing competition and public performance.

She stunned the audience and the judges with her rendition of Adele's "Someone like you".

Hui Min performing at NYP Jam! She blew the crowd away with her amazing vocals.

Taking part in NYP Jam! was an unforgettable experience for Hui Min.  “I felt good but I was very surprised. It was my first time performing in front of strangers and I thought the other competitors were better,” she said, “when they called my name, I didn’t know what to do!”

Hui Min felt that the NYP campus made their experience more memorable. “The campus is very big and nice,” said Hui Min who visited NYP for the first time for the competition. “I definitely want to apply to NYP when I finish my ‘O’ levels.”

Winning this competition was particularly satisfying as she wanted her parents to support her singing.  She had been too shy to invite her friends or family to see her performance at NYP Jam!

“I hope my friends and family like my singing,” said Hui Min, refering to the vocal sample she recorded  for 987FM.


Check out Hui Min's interview below!

The Facade (Jereld Ang and Brendon Chua)

Shan and Rozz introduce The Facade at NYP Jam!.

When asked about meeting 987FM’s DJs, the 19-year old Brendon, a 2nd year student from the School of Business Management, could not contain his admiration for Rosalyn Lee. “Rozz is hot,” he said enthusiastically.

The Facade with Divian Nair

But meeting the DJs was only one highlight in their journey.  For this duo, winning NYP Jam! was certainly exciting, as it had been the duo’s third public performance and their biggest.

“We didn’t expect to win,” said 18-year old Jereld, a 2nd year student from the School of Design , “our impression was that the other contestants were all very good.”

The duo performed "The Man Who Can't be Moved" by The Scipt and they recorded a sample  of the song during their interview with Divian.

Winning this competition has given this duo a deep sense of affirmation.  Jereld said that NYP Jam! was a “test to see if we have anything worth sharing”.

These two SoundCard members (NYP's version of a Glee Club) credited their performance to NYP’s vibrant arts scene. “NYP is well-known for having one of the most exciting dance and music scenes amongst all the polytechnics,” Brendon said. “We wouldn’t be able to pursue music this way if we were anywhere else,” he said.


Check out The Facade's interview below!


For more photos of NYP Jam! click here.

Talents@NAA Grand Finale

By Ho Khin Wai, First Year Diploma in Banking & Financial Services

(Left to right) NYP finalists Choo Xia Meng, Alex Shieh Jun Fa and Chon Hui Li

Excitement is in the air, as one student and two alumnus from NYP gear up for their one-minute “live” pitch in the hope to win ‘Talents@NAA 2011’, an event organised by the Ngee Ann – Adelaide Education Centre. ‘Talents@NAA’ is an island-wide talent search for polytechnic students who have the passion and aspirations to make a difference in their interested fields of study. The winner of the competition will be presented the grand prize of $3,000 study grant (or $1,500 cash).

After two rounds of nominations, three finalists remain for NYP.

They are:

Chon Hui Li, who just graduated with a Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Management, and is now in NAA pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing).

Choo Xia Meng, a Year 2 student in NYP currently pursuing a Diploma in Chemical & Green Technology.

Alex Shieh Jun Fa, who was from the pioneer batch of the Diploma in Media Studies (now known as Diploma in Mass Media Management). Alex, who graduated in 2007, joined the NYP’s Chinese Orchestra (NYPCO) in 2004 and helped grow the CCA from a handful of members to what it is today- an orchestra with a strong cohort who are able to go on competitions and win awards for NYP.

Alex answering questions after his pitch

Here, they had to do a one-minute, on-the-spot “live” pitch on a given topic.

The Grand Finale was held at *Scape, Warehouse on Saturday, 11 June 2011. The atmosphere in the auditorium did not seem too intense. Pop music filled the hall and people were slowly streaming in. However, it was a different feeling backstage. I went to check our NYP finalists out and here is what they have to say…

“Excited, but definitely nervous!” exclaimed Hui Li.

“I just hope all my friends here today will enjoy the show.” said Alex.

Alex explained that he was encouraged by Student Affairs Officer to take part. “And since NYP had given me a lot of opportunities to grow in the past few years, I thought this is a good way to give back to NYP,” he added.

Next, I asked them the contents of their essays: which they produced during the semi-finalist round.

Said Xia Meng, “I want to be an environmentalist in the future. I also want to encourage others to follow my path and help the environment. In my essay, I talked about how I plan to educate youths to be “green ambassadors”. For example, I wrote that I would make more money to set up a workshop specially to educate teens about it.”

“Why do you think you deserve to win?” was the next question I posed to them.

“There is meaning to my passions and aspirations. If I win the grand prize tonight, I would one step closer in reaching my goals to educate youths on the environment.” said Xia Meng.

“I want to do the school proud by winning the grand prize. NYP has nurtured me to be a confident, outspoken and dynamic individual. Without NYP, I wouldn’t be able to get this far.” said Alex.

I then spoke to the judges, Ms Christine Sim, General Manager of LINKS Recruitment Singapore and Mr Aaron Lim, Director of Intune Music School on what they think about the contestants.

Do you feel the finalists have what it takes to meet your expectations?
We’ve seen their essays and we feel these are very real actualizations for their aspirations. Many of them are very clear and authentic. We’re really impressed with the variety of experiences they had.

Do you think the contestants should only focus on winning? What do you want them to get from the event?

They should aim to win, of course. But besides that, the valuable experiences that they had here and the friends that they make are equally important. This is truly a journey of self-discovery.

At 7.00pm, they presented their pitches. Our NYP students were really impressive!

Hui Li, Alex, and Xia Meng, after the results were announced

Alex won the grand prize of $1,500 cash, which he planned to use to have Father’s Day dinner with his family and give a treat to his supporters. The remaining amount would be used to nurture and expose more youths to the arts scene in Singapore.

In addition, Alex also won the Best Video Award (sponsored by Wawa Pictures), and our recent graduate Tan Chui Choon won the Best Essay Award (Sponsored by Pilot).

Congratulations to our three finalists for a job well done!

Photo credit: NAA and Tay Wan Lin from Klix Photography, m:idea.

Photo credit: NAA and Tay Wan Lin from Klix Photography, m:idea.

Photo credit: NAA and Tay Wan Lin from Klix Photography, m:idea.