SMK Tatau Crowned Champion in PETRONAS All About Youth All Star 2016

Twenty Form Four students from SMK Tatau, Sarawak, were all smiles when they were announced the winner of PETRONAS All About Youth (AAY) All Star 2016,​ defeating teams from 29 other schools to bag the grand prize worth RM50,000 in the nationwide competition.   

Taking centre stage at the grand finale held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre today, the team received their prizes from the Deputy Director-General of Education, Ministry of Education Malaysia, Datuk Dr Amin Senin together with PETRONAS Senior Vice President of Group Human Resource Management, Dato’ Raiha Azni Abdul Rahman.  

Lauding PETRONAS’ efforts, Datuk Dr Amin said: “I am very impressed with the concept and content of PETRONAS AAY, with its goal to empower the youth to play their part in promoting social cohesion. At the Ministry of Education, we always encourage our youth to channel their creativity and collective energy into productive activities to build the communities and the nation. I congratulate PETRONAS for organising this meaningful programme.”

“Congratulations to the winning team and all finalists. I am truly proud and impressed with the dedication, hard work, tenacity, passion and heart that were put into these projects throughout the six-week execution,” said Dato’ Raiha Azni.  

Aside from receiving the grand prize worth RM50,000 for the purpose of upgrading their existing project, each member of the winning team will receive RM1,000 in Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional (SSPN) savings scheme. SMK Tatau captured the judges’ interest with their project titled “Green Toilet”, an eco-friendly toilet built to effectively save energy using solar gutter lights and rain water. This year, the energy-saving mechanism has been implemented at primary schools and public toilets in Bintulu, Tatau and Sebauh.   

SMK Chukai from Terengganu was named 1st runner-up with their project titled “Kassaskap”, an anti-flood storage box which enables local community to safe-keep their important belongings during the flood season. Meanwhile, SMK Penangah from Sabah was 2nd runner-up and their project called “One Stop Centre V2.0” is a Koperasi set up in their school which functions as a salon and entrepreneurial hub selling local products by villagers. Each team member of both winning categories received RM800 and RM500 in SSPN savings scheme respectively. The other two finalists were SMK Bongkol and SMK Padang Pulut. 

The final judging, which was concluded earlier in the morning, saw a panel of judges from PETRONAS, Ministry of Education Malaysia, Ministry of Finance Malaysia and Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), assess the projects based on creativity, clarity of presentation, originality, impact and sustainability of the projects. 

The three-year old programme, which started out as a pilot project, aims to nurture well-rounded youths in the areas of social development, community wellbeing and environment.  

Endorsed by the Ministry of Education, the PETRONAS AAY All Star 2016 saw the return of 30 schools from Terengganu, Kelantan, Melaka, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak selected from the list of former participants of the programme. The schools were represented by their respective Form Four students and had been awarded a grant of RM1,000 each to further enhance their projects.

Also present at the prize presentation ceremony was PETRONAS Senior General Manager, Group Strategic Communications, Zahariah (Liza) Abdul Rahman. 

“I am pleased that all 3,600 PETRONAS AAY participants will be enrolled as Alumni members where their long term development can be monitored. The aim of the PETRONAS AAY Alumni is to help groom and nurture the development of its members to eventually enhance their employability later on in life,” said Liza.  

Issued by 
Media Relations 
Group Strategic Communications 
PETRONAS