The 2009 ELDS Award (Part 1)

18 categories. 35 nominees. Plus satisfying responses from 46 voters.

If you were nominated, and/or if you voted, you must have been waiting (we hope so) for the final result.

Now that the results have been tallied, we proudly present you the Result Show of our first not-so-annual ELDS Award.

Before we proceed, let us remind you that some nominations have received abstain votes. These abstain votes are not counted into the final percentage. Otherwise, “no one” would win in some categories and that would be uncool and upsetting.

Let us begin the show by paying a homage to our seniors. These people serve as inspirational figures for us to model after. Everyone wishes to be like them. Every single member of ELDS would kill to have half an ounce of their talents.

Senior Talent of the Year
Abstain vote(s): 2

1. Li Pei Jung with 90.91% of votes.
2. Harjo Winoto with 6.82% of votes.
3. Denny Salim with 2.27% of votes.
4. Djaya Salim with 0.00% of votes.

Is there any possible way to call her achievement as “overrated”? During her golden years, she has emerged as the Top 4 Indonesian debaters to represent the country in the World Schools Debating Championship 2006 at Cardiff, Wales. She achieved her cult status that transcends time. Technically speaking, she graduated around four years ago and she is still winning by a mammoth-sized margin.

Next up are four junior members who are believed to have the most potential for future growth in public speaking. It is always a pleasant experience to watch young talents build everything up from zero into who they are today. But this is still the beginning of the road for them. The real issue is: who will they become tomorrow? Our voting result might suggest a clue or two.

Junior Talent of the Year
Abstain vote(s): 21

1. Yunita Lim with 36.00% of votes.
2. Devris Wijaya with 32.00% of votes.
3. Edric Subur with 16.00% of votes.
3. Juliana Sanjaya with 16.00% of votes.

It was a close competition. Surely, ELDS has many potential talents and it was not easy for voters to decide which one is the cream of the crop. Now that Yunita has been crowned as the new princess, it would be one hell of a task for her to metamorphosize into “ratu debat sejagad“. Time will tell if she will live up to her potential. But for now, let us celebrate her victory as the best junior talent of the year.

Speaking of which, we have someone who is already near the end process of her metamorphosis. Flutter, flutter, we can hear the sound of the butterfly wings. It is a sweet sound, obviously, an aural appreciation of the beauty of nature. Or more appropriately, a natural beauty that has been blessed to them.

Madu Award
Abstain vote(s): 4

1. Nancy Tania with 40.48% of the votes.
2. Catharine Tanara with 28.57% of the votes.
3. Christine Lestari with 21.43% of the votes.
4. Caroline Jayalie with 9.52% of the votes.

Nancy soars into the sky with her new pair of wings. She has been chosen as the ultimate sweetheart of ELDS, triumphing some seriously tough competitors there. For a trivia, we tried to fit another C-named person into the list. But we gave up because the only name we could think of is Chandra Yoko. But he is a bee and not a butterfly. He stings. And he stinks. So we put Nancy, whose genuinely sweet look carried her as a winner despite the unsupportive first letter of her name.

On the other spectrum, we have a category designed to award someone as the most infamous figure in ELDS. This would be a pure evil spawned by the darkest magic in the world. Nothing could surpass nor match the terror that is sparked by such a demon. Who hits the rock bottom?

Tumor of the Year
Abstain vote(s): 3

1. Win Fortunata with 95.35% of votes.
2. Chandra Yoko with 4.65% of votes.
3. Gunawan Tanzil with 0.00% of votes.
3. Roberto Lie with 0.00% of votes.

Could it be anyone else? Despite the vast-ranging member of ELDS whose votes are usually well-spread in other categories, the sheer near-unanimous expression shown here is on a fever pitch level. The true surprise, though, is two votes deviating a way to the bee who stings and stinks. No one would have been able to guess who voted for the bee correctly and we need to protect their identity. When some individuals, however few they are, have decided that you can out-tumor Mr. Fortunata, you are in serious trouble.

Move on, we have a special category designed specifically as a lifetime achievent award. There is really no feasible way for us to find any combination of phrases that would justify the description to this category. It shall be self-explanatory, really.

Bo Penting Award
Abstain vote(s): 5

1. Ricky Wiriady with 65.85% of the votes.
2. Richie with 17.07% of the votes.
3. Winny Sim with 12.20% of the votes.
4. Widiana Lim with 4.88% of the votes.

Our comments? Never mind, there is no need for any. Bo penting.

ELDS would be boring without a sort of bonding established to link our similarities and differences together. Public speaking is one thing, but it would be too damn obvious. So instead of having something cliche in our proposal, we have thought of a better alternative. Everyone loves to gossip. We all do. But what would be the topic that would unify our beliefs best?

Favorite Gossip Topic
Abstain vote(s): 12

1. Tumor Terror! with 67.65% of votes.
2. The Tragic Love Stories of Princess AC with 14.71% of votes.
3. Adam & Steve (The Gay Tale of Stevensen) with 8.82% of votes.
3. P&P (Psychopaths & Paulina) with 8.82% of votes.

Unsurprisingly, Tumor is the universal topic that no one can ever get tired speaking about! Unless if you want to be hypocritical, of course. *cough* the bee that stings and stinks *cough*

Okay, now that you know what to talk about whenever you see a bunch of ELDS members gathering around, there is another problem: where can I find this bunch of ELDS members in the first place? Can you find them in Jupiter? Greenland? Everywhere?

Favorite Sam Seng Venue
Abstain vote(s): 13

1. Sutomo 1 Canteen with 36.36% of the votes.
2. Sun Plaza with 30.30% of the votes.
3. Karaoke Pub/Box with 18.18% of the votes.
4. Andrew’s with 15.16% of the votes.

Contrary to the opinion of someone in the committee that made the nomination list, Sutomo 1 Canteen is a clear winner here. No, it is hardly surprising. Nor would it be eclipsed in popularity. Sutomo 1 Canteen holds a lot of historical values that cannot be found on anywhere else.

Two more prestigious awards to go before we proceed to commercial break. On a prom night like this, we need a king and a queen to glam up the atmosphere. The next two awards are presented to those who is believed to have made the most contribution into the “bonding operation” mentioned above. They always have interesting remarks to be made regarding our gossip topics.

Mister Gossip 2009
Abstain vote(s): 2

1. Andrew Darwitan with 40.91% of votes.
2. Stevensen with 31.82% of votes.
3. Ricky Wiriady with 22.73% of votes.
4. Chandra Yoko with 4.54% of votes.

Miss Gossip 2009
Abstain vote(s): 7

1. Angelina Chandra with 64.10% of the votes.
2. Paulina Tandiono with 25.64% of the votes.
3. Jaslyn Pratiwi with 7.69% of the votes.
4. Nancy Tania with 2.57% of the votes.

Never, we repeat, never ever start a party or arrange a hang-out without inviting these two people or it would be incredibly dull and boring.

Stay tuned for Part 2.