In conjunction with OPN2009, Radiology Malaysia and its partners in breast health, Kidz Magazine & Challenges Magazine invited entries to its Digital Video and Slogan Contests. The digital videos were to be 3 minutes or less and themed or centred on “Living life to the fullest even with breast cancer” whilst the 3-word slogans were to be the tagline to describe OutRageously PiNk Nite.

The winners were presented their prizes at the fun and highly invigorating OutRageously PiNk Nite (OPN) on Saturday, 7 November 2009 at Bangsar Village II, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur. Mr Michael Schermer, Head of Sector Healthcare, Siemens Malaysia, presented the prizes to the winners.

More than 350 slogans/taglines were submitted and the judges had a tough time selecting the outstanding ones. Entries were received from Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Negeri Sembilan, Johor and Sabah, with the youngest being only 9 years old. That is starting early in breast health awareness, kudos to the parents for this effort.

The top winning slogan was adopted as the theme for OPN and it was “iCheck iAct iLive” submitted by homemaker Madam Loh Cheng Kee from Penang. Mdm Loh, with her sister made the trip to Kuala Lumpur and join in the festive –like OPN2009! She took home a 32” LG LCD Television. Cheng Kee participated in this contest because she had relatives who were too late in “acting”, and succumbed to cancer. This gave her the inspiration to remind younger women to be aware, do their check-ups and act on it, if something is found. That way, all can treasure living.

Second prize winner was Ms Lai Shwu Fai from Ampang, with her submission of “Screen for Life”. She won an Apple 8Gb iPOD Touch. “Stronger than yesterday” was submitted by Ms Dalila Musyirah Mohd Zin from Seremban and she won an Apple 8Gb iPOD Nano.

The other category contest was the digital video contest. The public voting was exciting because two of the 3 videos were neck to neck in popularity. There was just nearly 3 weeks for the public to cast their votes from the closing date of the submission.

Votes came from 12 different countries, mostly Malaysians, some residing outside of Malaysia. However, even non-Malaysians wrote in to cast their vote when they could not submit their votes online because of the lack of an identity card number. Dr Evelyn Ho, Webeditor of Radiology Malaysia expressed, “ We hope this exercise succeeded in spreading awareness in a different manner when the public was asked to view the videos and select which they liked best and brought out the message of living life to the fullest even with breast cancer. We were not looking at technical quality as much as the message and decided to leave it to the public to select which they liked best.”

Of note was the vote from Helen Wright, the Deputy Mayor of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield in South Australia and no wonder as Helen is also a breast cancer survivor. Although the breast cancer support groups dominated in the popularity votes, special commendation must be given to 22 year old Mr Mohd Afiq Deen bin Azizan, who produced a short film entitled “Sebelah” with English subtitles.

Afiq Deen was inspired to produce this film after seeing how his 33 year old aunt was affected by breast cancer. He tried to portray how young women dealt with mastectomy. His questions were, “How does mastectomy change them and the people around them (the breast cancer patient)?” He relates, “Sebelah is a short film with subliminal messages, and layered meanings to confront and somehow resolve the mental state of young breast cancer patients.” Now, that is indeed very profound for this young film maker. Afiq took home an APPLE 8Gb iPod Touch. Radiology Malaysia would consider Afiq the unsung hero, who’s life was touched by cancer.

The team from Johor Bahru was not disappointed as when they travelled to Kuala Lumpur for the prize presentation, they had no idea which prize they had won. They were exhilarated when they won the top prize of the 42inch LG Plasma Television. Doris Boo, the President of the Breast Cancer Support Group, Johor Bahru said, “ in our breast cancer support group, we choose to be happy. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. It needs as much effort as sticking to an exercise regime requires. This is our chosen journey to wellness.”

The video came about unintentionally, as it was after their group’s attempted climb up Mount Kinabalu (they only made it to Laban Rata, as strong winds prevented the last leg of the climb to the summit),where one of the members was just happily clicking away and videoing clips of them touring . The video was a very fun project for the BCSG JB because they did it as part of their weekly activities.

The Pink Challengers were the next most popular video entry. Ms Wong Mee Yee is the captain of this feisty dragon boat racing team, made up of all who have had breast cancer and members of the Breast Cancer Welfare Association. They have rowed in international competitions and is fast gaining respect as a formidable team! Their motto is “Paddle for Courage, Strength and Change”. Barbara Delaney, the team manager has this to say, “Life brings many ups and downs, but it's how you choose to live the ups and downs that makes your life. Since being diagnosed with breast cancer I have chosen to live life to the fullest no matter how long or short it is... make every moment count with no regrets.”

A special thank you to Siemens Malaysia for sponsoring the prizes for the Radiology Malaysia-OPN2009 contests; Kidz Magazine, Challenges Magazine for being our partners as well as the organisers of OutRageously PiNK Nite 2009.

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