From left: Ng Kun Yu, Grace Choo and Toon Pei Ling. Not in picture: Meng Zhiqun.

They only had two weeks to conceptualise, produce and submit a video for the National Day Students’ Video Competition 2008. But Year 2 Digital Media Design students Grace Choo, Meng Zhiqun, Toon Pei Ling and Ng Kun Yu not only met the deadline, but were also named as one of the two - Third Prize winners in the ITE & Polytechnic category. The team won a cash prize of $1,000.

Held for the second time, the competition is jointly organised by the National Heritage Board (NHB) and Ministry of Education (MOE). The theme for this year’s competition was "Celebrating Singapore's Heroes"

“We came up with the tagline “Everyone makes a Hero”. We felt that everyone has his own special and unique way of serving the country, and that every little contribution makes a big difference,” said Grace

She added, “We wanted to remember those workers who are easily taken for granted, as well as leaders who made Singapore what it is today.”

As part of their research, the team visited the National Museum and photographed historical places in the Civic District.

According to Grace, the team devised an ingenious way of presenting their concept, instead of creating an entire digital clip using Adobe After Effects software.

“We used paper cut outs, stuck them onto satay sticks and moved them around like in a puppet show. And since we didn’t have a video camera, we made do with the video recording feature of a digital camera.  However, it was quite a challenge to get consistent lighting as everything was filmed on my bedroom wall.”

Mr Michael Koh, CEO of NHB, presented the prize money and certificates of achievement to all winners.