The winners of the International Association Convention Scholarship Award now in its third year, were announced by Dato Sri Dr Muhammad Leo Michael Toyad Abdullah, Chairman of the Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) at a press conference held at Four Points by Sheraton Kuching on the 17th of November 2011.
Five scholarship awards, each valued at RM 10,000, covering travel, accommodation, association membership and convention registration fees were presented to recipients to enable them to attend the international convention of their choice.
In his speech, Dato Sri Dr Muhammad Leo Michael Toyad Abdullah commented, “I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the award winners. I am proud to see Sarawakians taking a positive step to expand their horizons and build international professional networks to prepare them to bid for international conferences in the future.”
“Our aim with this award is to encourage potential new bidders to actively participate in attending international conventions and in turn, showcase the benefits and opportunities that come from networking at these conventions. It is important for Sarawak to develop its own association base with active members,” he added.
Winners were selected by a judging panel consisting of representatives of SCB who shortlisted the finalists based on written applications and interviews with selected applicants.
The award winners for 2011 are:
1. Mr. Alban @William John Lisen
Teacher, SK Laksamana (Kuching)
– 65th International Dyslexia Association Annual Conference, USA
2. Ms. Alice Jawan Empaling
Deputy General Manager, Sibu Water Board
– World Water Congress & Exhibition 2012, South Korea
3. Ms. Teresa Hii Leh Choo
Businesswoman, Bangah Engineering & SUC (Miri)
– 13th Annual Women’s Business Enterprise National Council 2012, USA
4. Ms. Jane Chan Ai Nyet
Lecturer, Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak (Kuching)
– 4th International Conference on Computer Supported Education 2012, Portugal
5. Mr. John Huang Shen Han
Principal and Designer, Studio Yolk (Kuching)
– 2011 International Design Congress, Taiwan
Mr. Dylan Redas Noel, Director of Research for SCB commented, “The winners were selected based on the quality of submissions and feasibility of the conference rotation and its scope of programme. Furthermore, the award winners were very passionate and dedicated in their work and this award will further encourage them to consider bidding for conventions to Sarawak”.
The International Association Convention Scholarship Award is an initiative from SCB, the marketing arm of the State Government in promoting Sarawak as a MICE destination. SCB’s primary role is to assist meeting planners to present competitive bids, develop new meetings, maximize delegate attendance through delegate boosting and develop tailor-made incentive proposals.
Mrs. Jill Henry, Chief Executive Officer of SCB added, “The quality of applications and increased number of applicants this year has made the awards very competitive. We are glad to see so many new applications come through. We hope that this will encourage more Sarawakians to take up the challenge and send in their application for next year.”
The International Association Convention Scholarship Awards are open to all residents of Sarawak over 18 years of age from educational institutions, private companies or Government Departments, or students of tertiary institutions with support from their University or College. They must either be existing members of non-profit or Government associations or eligible to join. The selected convention must rotate among different destinations and fulfil the criteria to be hosted in Malaysia.
Application forms for 2012 are available from the Sarawak Convention Bureau or can be downloaded from www.sarawakcb.com.
