Simpur Bloggies Best Photo Blog: 1 Vote of Separation

First up, congratulations to Reeda Malik/ANAKBRUNEI.org for winning the Simpur Bloggies BEST PHOTO BLOG competition.  A win this close, separated by a mere 1 vote has given us our own little Amazing Race! I must say, the half-hour of the Kristal FM/Jenny M show had been most intense than the 10-day race itself—song after song in-between promises to reveal the winner in reverse order. Exciting yet mental! I wish to take this opportunity to thank EVERYONE who voted for SHIMworld. I’m ecstatic to say the least as I had not expected to come this far. Being right next to the winner, away from the spotlight is perhaps where my comfort zone is (that’s just me!). Some of you whom I’ve shared a personal view knew I had hoped Reeda would win—I think he deserved to win given his larger than life personality and journalistic reporting that Anakbrunei.org is.

Voting was tight between the top two, Anakbrunei and Jan Shim/SHIMWORLD, all throughout the 10 days, with the both of them separated by a few votes at the end of every single day. In the end, Anakbrunei eventually won by a single vote!

© DST Multimedia Sdn Bhd/Simpur Bloggies Many thanks to the sponsors! …

Runner-up Jan Shim of SHIMWORLD won a Meal Voucher for 2 at the Orchid Garden Hotel sponsored by the hotel & Simpur, an Easi Starter Pack + $20 Recharge Card from DSTCom, and merchandise from DST Group & Simpur.

The week leading up to the nomination stage was also exciting. It gave me the push I needed to keep SHIMworld updated with new content. There are no free lunches as we know it and I know first hand that photo-journalism is hard work and the race to the top is often fraught with issues we don’t discuss publicly. In between hectic event and commercial schedules and exhausting commutes, I surprised myself to have found the time to update!

© DST Multimedia Sdn Bhd/Simpur Bloggies

Thanks also to Rano’s impeccable reporting and support. I think RanoAdidas.com (being an immensely popular social blog) indirectly campaigned for votes to the five nominees account for more than the singular effort I would have put in myself.

© RanoAdidas.com

Why Jan Shim? Among them, he’s a full time professional photographer and he has fans local and abroad. Great write up, great photography and it has good content on every post that will leave you satisfied. He could be the dark horse of this category.

The reaction to Rano’s remark was a funny one that I feel deserves a mention. I had people asking me what the meaning of dark horse was. Some effort to Google this ensued and a number of possible definitions came to light, each with different interpretation of what it could mean in Rano’s context. The rest, as they say, is history!

Yeah! Reeda won! And Jan lost by ONE vote only. Man, competition between men are surely fierce. – Nonnie King/Spiritual Garden

The result of the Simpur Best PhotoBlog category was no surprise this time.In my opinion, both the winner (AnakBrunei) and the runner-up (Shimworld) are equally good at what they do that it is hard to say who is the better photoblogger between them.The outcome clearly reflected this with only a SINGLE VOTE separating one from the other. And as a fan of both, I think this was the best possible result. – Jewelle Anak Brunei wins Photog category. In one of the closest competition ever, Jan Shim lost out by a single vote to Reeds where both blogger ended up with 32% each. she-shoots defied the odds by finishing third (So I guess they will remain anonymous for some time *hehe*). Ucing Itam came at fourth place while another anonymous blogger, c settled for 5th place. – RanoAdidas

It couldn’t have been a closer race! In the end, only one vote separated the winner and the runner-up! To those who made it to the top five, Shimworld, Sheshoots, Blindaseachother, and bro Ucingitam, well done! If anything, this whole exercise has pushed us all to work that little bit harder at our sites! – AnakBrunei

Congratulations to our Jing Chew club chief Reeda a.k.a. AnakBrunei for being crowned Simpur’s best photo blogger. It was a tough see-saw battle with the runner-up Jan Shim while the mysterious She-Shoots girls emerged third. C came fifth while yours truly sat comfortably at the fourth place. Well, everyone is a winner! I thank everyone for nominating and voting UcingItam.Com to be in the Top 5. Personally, AnakBrunei.org has been one of my inspirations since my early days of photoblogging and up to now it is a daily must read for me. – UcingItam