Astro’s Blast Off winners get RM700,000
in scholarship from Limkokwing

March 2006

Thirty-seven scholarship awards worth RM700,000 have been given to the winners and contestants of Astro's Hitz.TV Blast Off! And it's only apt that Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology should be the one giving them out – the pioneer in creative education has always placed emphasis on style and substance in preparing young minds for the global environment.

With the focus on branding, innovation and leadership being more pronounced than ever before, it's time to fast track progress on this front – and Limkokwing is all for the development of creativity by fusing style and substance to produce the best innovative minds in fields as diverse as business, multimedia, music design and fashion.

Through the scholarships, members of the winning acts comprising Jiaja, Reffugeez, the Exilers, Radical Rascalz, Funny Rabbits and Xyphaz, enjoy the opportunity to pursue courses at the university college. There are 10 full scholarships, and 27 partial, and not only do winners get to receive them; the other contestants could also apply.

The new Limkokwing Sound and Music Design Academy welcomes the bulk of the 37 winners, while the rest will enrol in the university's new courses in such fields as digital imaging and illustration, event management, and professional communicaton.

The Hitz.TV Blast Off, a contest to discover unsigned talent, initially featured 95 contestants in two categories – Band and Vocal Group, saw some 2,000 supporters flooding the Orange Club in Kuala Lumpur for the finals, where Jiaja, a blues funk rock band from Kota Kinabalu, and Reffugeez, a hip hop act, were crowned champions. The results were based 100% on audience voting and the two groups had won 47% and 39% of votes respectively.

The Exilers and Radical Rascalz were placed first runner up while the second runner up spot went to Funny Rabbits and Xyphaz. The winning groups had earlier walked away with various prizes including cash, holiday packages, Nokia handphones and Samsonite bags.

At a special ceremony held at the Limkokwing campus, they received the scholarship awards from Tiffanee Lim, special assistant to Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing.

The talent search, carried live by Hitz.TV on Channel 16, is a nationwide recruitment exercise that saw participants from cities including Penang , Kuching and Johor Baru. Previous winners include K-Town Clan, whose frontman, Roshan, is a Limkokwing student.

According to Tiffanee, the scholarship donation reflects Limkokwing's support for creative projects that serve to train young minds for the real world, in line with the university's philosophy of powering innovation through an industry-based environment.