The Chosen Ones [updated April 5]

Finally! It must have been a tense, anxious couple of days for some of you contestants, but after a very competitive and very tight preliminary round, we've narrowed down the top twelve performances who will make it to the Talent Showdown this April 7! The panel of judges during the prelims included Ariff Akhir of Purple Sound Productions and formerly of The Sofa Sessions, Azmyl Yunor of the Troubadours, and Nigesh and Matt Ho of The ComeBackKings.

Wednesday's panel of judges.

Friday's panel of judges.

Here are the finalists, in alphabetical order:

1. Afro-Asian Brothers

2. Ain

3. Aura

4. Ballad Of Fallen Angel

5. Ben & Friends

6. Inspire

7. Mustang Crew

8. Neo Classicism

9. It's Me!

10. Syden

11. T-Magic

12. Tidal Sessions

This Saturday, April 7, from 7:30pm to 11:00pm at Multi Purpose Hall, Taylor's University College Subang Jaya, these truly talented performers will be vying for more than RM5,000 in prizes, including handphones courtesy of DiGi, an electric guitar courtesy of The Guitar Store, software packages, hampers, vouchers, and up to RM1,000 in cash prizes!

They come from colleges and universities around and beyond the Klang Valley, including Alif College, APIIT, HELP University College, ICOM, IMU, Inti College, Lim Kok Wing University College, Sunway University College, TAR College, TBS, TCPJ, The One Academy, UNITAR, University of Nottingham, and more!

What you will experience is a very eclectic and exciting mix, including some awe-inspiring guitar-playing, flaming-hot fusion dances, a mesmerising magic show, a swooning Nigerian pop tune (ladies beware!), as well as a one-of-a-kind song and dance involving a feather duster, toilet brush and.. ahh, but words cannot describe, that needs to be seen yourself!

And if all that doesn't pop your eyes and mouths wide open with amazement, guest performers The ComeBackKings will bring you to tears with laughter, Ghetto Republic will get your groove on, and Project Ei8ht will rawk your socks off!

Remember, the audience votes the winners and there are goodie bags to be given away, so get your tickets quick as you can! For you may never see a show with a line-up this special again. Ever. (Or at least until the next RAWK Foundation project. ;))

Tickets are RM20.00 each. Call Sarah (017 6017656) / Kelly (016 3015566) or email rawkfoundation@gmail.com for reservations. See you this Saturday, April 7, at 7:30pm!

For those about to RAWK, we salute you!

Registration for the Talent Showdown is now closed! Thanks for signing up, everyone!

[March 29 update: To contestants who have not yet confirmed with us your time slot for the preliminary round, please do so by today, Thursday March 29, 5:00pm, or we will consider you disqualified!]

The preliminary round for the Talent Showdown will be on March 30, in The Auditorium at Taylor's College Petaling Jaya between 10am and 4pm. It is a closed-door event, and contestants are required to come during their time slot to perform before a panel of judges.

Contestants will be judged based on Showmanship, Originality, and Technique. All contestants will then be notified on March 31 on their eligibility to qualify to the Talent Showdown on April 7. Note that contestants may not have to perform their entire routine due to time constraints.

The schedule on March 30 (Friday) is as follows:

Time Slot----------------------Performer Name
11.00-11.05-------------------Ain
11.05-11.10-------------------Puteri
11:15-11:30-------------------Klan G
11:30-11:45-------------------Tidal Sessions
12:00-12:10-------------------Mustang Crew
12.10-12.20-------------------The Rising
12:20-12:30-------------------3 Blind Mice
12:30-12:40-------------------Shazana
12:50-1:00--------------------Simple Guys

1:00-1:10----------------------myo
1:10-1:20----------------------Roshan, Kugan, Guna, Romy, Maha
1:30-1:40----------------------Kiera
1:40-1:50----------------------Jonsen
1:50-2:00----------------------Leo
2:00-2:10----------------------Grace & Laura
2:10-2:30----------------------Give Us A Name
2:30-2:40----------------------Mysterious Spark

3:00-3:10----------------------Inspire
3:10-3:20----------------------Ong Lee Chin
3:20-3:30----------------------Coyote
3:30-3:40----------------------Syden
3:40-3:50----------------------Suhairah
3:50-4:00----------------------Neo Classicism
4:00-4:15----------------------Ling Tau Kien
4:15-4:30----------------------Ben, Dawson, Elsa, Tessie, April & David

For contestants who are TCPJ Diploma in Communication students and won't be available on March 30 due to the Mass Colympics, we're holding a special session on March 28 at LT1, Taylor's College Petaling Jaya, between 12:00 to 3:00pm.

The schedule on March 28 (Wednesday) is as follows:

Time Slot----------------------Performer Name
1:30-1:40----------------------Dice Dentari, Nick & Sara Mak
1:40-1:50----------------------Deep-jeaNNie
1:50-1:55----------------------Ashleigh, Vanessa, Aina
1:55-2:00----------------------Audrey C., Audrey O., Kerry, Denise, ----------------------------------Chandni, Jacqueline
2:00-2:15----------------------Atriumn

2:15-2:30----------------------The Brothers
2:30-2:40----------------------Indhuja

Good luck and all the best, everybody!

Important update to Rules & Regulations!

Due to numerous requests, we're making a significant change to the Rules & Regulations: Groups with members who are not college/university students are now allowed to sign up. Previously, all contestants needed to be college/university students to enter. Now, a group only needs at least 1 member who's currently enrolled in a college/university to be eligible. Please download (provided the server that's hosting our files isn't down again..) the latest Rules & Regulations and overwrite it over the previous versions (or view it here!).

If you're having problems downloading or opening the registration form, you can also register simply by sending an email to rawkfoundation@gmail.com with your name, stage name, performance description, required equipment, and contact numbers.

So those of you whom we had to regrettably put on hold while we discussed the issue can now send in your registration forms! See you at the preliminary round!

RAWKin' the Media

A compilation of media coverage on the RAWK Foundation:

The Star Education, March 18, 2007

Yellow Post Issue 24, March 16 - 22, 2007

The Star Metro, March 14, 2007

The Star [R.AGE], March 2, 2007

Inkslingers, February 26, 2007

The Launch and the Awareness Booth

The RAWK Foundation held its official launching last Wednesday on the 7th of March, 2007, in Lecture Theatre 1, Taylor's College Petaling Jaya.

The launching started promptly at 9.30am, with the arrival of Taylor's College School of Communication Programme Director Ms. Josephine Tan, teachers and autistic children from NASOM, lecturers and students as well as members of the public who came and gave their support. Our project manager, Kelly Ch'ng, kick-started the launch with a brief introduction to RAWK and its mission, followed by a foreword from Ms. Josephine Tan.

RAWK Foundation Project Manager Kelly Ch'ng giving an introductory speech

After both speeches, the teachers and autistic children of NASOM performed a short albeit simple play, portraying the life of autistic children. The play, which was an interesting mixture of prose, sketch, and video illustrated the hardships of autistic children and the rejection they face by society, and some even from parents.

Autistic children performing a play during the launching

A teacher from NASOM then came forward to read a testimonial detailing the challenges faced by a mother having to deal with an autistic child. After that, another impressive speech was given by a 12-year-old boy, Hazim, who presented a personal account of being an autistic child in public schools. His witty, articulate delivery received a tremendous response in the packed theatre.

A testimonial read by one of the teachers from NASOM

Hazim giving an impassioned speech

After the play, Executive Director of NASOM Mrs. Liew enlightened the audience with information on NASOM and the efforts of NASOM in helping both parents and children to deal with autism.

Mrs. Josephine Tan (second from left) presenting Mrs. Liew with a token of appreciation

This was followed by a short video presentation of the RAWK Foundation visit to NASOM, which you can watch below.

The end of the video marked the official launching of the RAWK Foundation and was followed by presenting tokens of appreciation to the honoured guests. Finally, the lecturers and representatives from NASOM adjourned for light refreshments, while the rest of the students and audience proceeded to the Courtyard to check out the RAWK Foundation Awareness Booth.

Awareness Booth

The RAWK Foundation Awareness Booth, situated at the courtyard of Leisure Commerce Square, had several boards up with information to inform the public on autism, the symptoms and effects of autism, information on NASOM, information on RAWK Foundation and the activities we have organised as well as upcoming activities, and most importantly The Talent Showdown!

The information boards at the Awareness Booth

The crowd checking out the information boards

A student counting peanuts for the game, and another checking out the RAWK Talent Showdown flyers.

We had several cool performances to keep the crowd entertained, with the first performance being a very energetic dance by The Music and Dance Society, followed by a rendition of TLC's 'No Scrubs' sung by girl trio Carrie. Melisa Suciati came next, and sang 2 songs - a version of Jason Mraz's 'You and I' accompanied by only maracas and an acapella version of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'. Last but not least was an engaging Jujitsu demonstration.

1st performance by The Music and Dance Society

2nd performance by girl trio, Carrie

A wonderful performance by Melisa Suciati accompanied by the maracas.

The hard-hitting Jujitsu demonstration

There was also a games booth with featuring a Guess the Peanuts! game and a Banana-Eating Competition, with hampers and vouchers to be won.

Giving their best guess at the Guess the Peanuts! game.

The Banana-Eating Competition

The RAWK Foundation T-shirts were also on sale for RM22. They're made from high-quality, dry fit Kappa material. Get yours from your nearest RAWK member (identifiable by the tag around our necks) or drop us an e-mail at rawkfoundation@gmail.com.

The back design of The RAWK Foundation T-shirt.

Barring a few technical problems with the PA system at the courtyard, everything went well, and once again, The RAWK Foundation thanks all who have been giving us your continued support.

On a final note, tickets to the Talent Showdown are now on sale! They're RM 20 each. As with the t-shirts, get them from the first RAWK Foundation member you can lay your hands on, or e-mail us at rawkfoundation@gmail.com. Show off your talent and join the Talent Showdown, or get your friends and family to come and vote for your favourite talents!

RAWK Official Launching / Time to get this Show on the Road

The RAWK Foundation's got exciting things lined up this week. Not only are we officially launching, we'll also be organising roadshows at selected colleges and universities!

The launching for the RAWK Foundation will be held on Wednesday, 7th of March, 2007, 9.30am to 11.00am, at Lecture Theatre 1, Taylor's College Petaling Jaya. The autistic children from NASOM will be staging a play, which will be a rare performance you do not want to miss. We'll also be giving away goodie bags, so be there!

Also on the 7th of March, we will be setting up an awareness booth at the courtyard to promote our main event, The Inter-College University Talent Showdown, as well as for any information you might want about RAWK or autism. The booth will be open from 10.00am onwards. We've got several very talented individuals to perform, as well as a games session and prizes to be given away! We will also be selling our own RAWK Foundation t-shirts and we will have a donation box for anyone to donate to NASOM. So everyone, come to our awareness booth, where you get to be charitable and have fun at the same time!

For the roadshows, members of the RAWK Foundation will be visiting various universities and colleges, where we will be hosting games, giving out Talent Showdown entry forms, selling t-shirts and Talent Showdown tickets, and have more freebies and prizes to give away! The details of the roadshows are as follows:

Tuesday, 6th March 2007
- Taylor's University College Subang Jaya
- Metropolitan College

Thursday, 8th March 2007
- HELP University College

Tuesday, 13th March 2007
- University of Nottingham, Semenyih campus

Wednesday, 14th March 2007
- University College Sedaya International (subject to change)

In a nutshell, please come to our launching if you can make it, and if you can't, don't worry, we'll go to you! We are going to RAWK here, there, and everywhere, so look out for us and continue supporting us!