IT was a noisy and fun-filled afternoon for the winners of the Get On Board with #MRTSSPLINE ‘Take a Selfie” Contest when they gathered at the prize-giving ceremony on Saturday, 5 September 2015 at the Sime Darby Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Besides enjoying a sumptuous buffet, the 10 winners had a good time getting to know each other and checking out each other’s winning entries.

The winners were selected among 538 entries of the contest. In order to win, the contestants had to take selfies at the MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya Line (SSP Line) Public Inspection Roadshow booth and post their selfies on either Facebook or Instagram.

The contest ran from 6 August until 14 August 2015 to coincide with the SSP Line Public Inspection to encourage members of the public to visit the booths, and give their feedback on the proposed alignment which was on display.

The prize giving ceremony began with a welcome note by Encik Mahmood Abdul Razak, MRT Corp’s Director of Operations and Assets Management.

He thanked the winners for taking part in the contest and by virtue of their participation, had helped create awareness about the SSP Line Public Inspection Roadshow.

“Social media is a powerful tool in this day and age and that is why we have utilised it very successfully in this campaign. We know that the contest was effective because we received a jump in the number of feedback during the period this contest was run”, said Mahmood.

Master of ceremonies Encik Hardy Arbi then took over and began inviting the winners one-by-one onstage to collect their iPad Minis. However, before each winner could lay their hands on their iPad Minis, they were subjected to a cheeky interview by Hardy, much to the crowd’s amusement.

Once everyone had received their prizes, the winners gathered onstage to take a group round of a “selfie”.

Commenting on being a winner, Encik Muhamad Afiq Aziz said he was extremely pleased to have won an iPad Mini.

“This iPad Mini is exactly what I needed for my three years in Scotland,” he said. Muhamad Afiq had flown in from Kota Bharu to accept his prize.  He was going to fly off to Scotland to pursue his doctorate in Biomedical Science, the following week.

His winning entry involved him and his friends posing in various positions in front of one of boards of the booth. All of his friends joined him at the ceremony.

Winners Encik Azuan Effendy Zairakithnaini and Puan Lily Shazreena Abdul Rahim are a husband and wife team, where each posted a winning entry.  They went all the way to Alamanda Shopping Mall from their home in Bukit Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur to perform their perfect selfie poses, bringing along props such as self-made slogan cutouts, a tooth brush, a shower cap and even a water scoop.

“I told my wife if we were to participate, we must do the extreme. That’s my style. If I were to do something, I will really do it,” Azuan said.

His comical selfie captioned, “Late riser? No worries.. U won’t be late to work with MRT,” depicts himself dressed in a white t-shirt and “kain pelikat”, donning a shower cap, complete with a towel, toothbrush and toothpaste.

Lily too went the extra mile for her selfie post, but in a more conventional way where she made cutouts with creative hashtags such as #travellingmadeeasywithMRT and #kipidabdongibabMRT.

Creativity was the winning factor for Encik Syahizan Amir Abdul Wahab who played on the similarity between MRT and Mr.T, the star from the 80s TV show The A-Team. His selfie has him holding a mobile phone picture of Mr T, with the word “MR.T” all in capital.

“This will be a present for my wife’s birthday”, Syahizan said upon accepting his iPad Mini.