THE Federal Territories Ministry is calling on bloggers to write about more than just places and destinations for the ongoing “Blog For FT” competition.

The ministry’s head of corporate communcations Mazurah Ismail said they would like to see more participants blogging about topics such as the heroes of Kuala Lumpur, lives of the ordinary people and the city’s history reported from the blogger’s personal point of view.

“Many have written and submitted the theme for places and destinations as they think it is a tourism-related campaign. But we hope to get people blogging on interesting activities such as volunteers who cook for the poor, life of a taxi driver or even the history of St John or Victoria Institution,” Mazurah said.

The competition was launched on Oct 5 by Federal Territories Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin.

It’s official: Raja Nong Chik launching the ‘Blog For FT’ competition recently.

So far, the competition has received about 400 articles and 240 have been published. The ministry said the rest had been rejected due to not meeting the requirements.

Mazurah also said submissions for the media category were poor as only five entries have been received.

“In fact, this category is opened upon request from the media. Many participants are first-time bloggers so we want more of our press friends to participate,” she said.

In an earlier StarMetro report, Raja Nong Chik had said the competition was being held in response to the realities of the present time.

He was reported as saying that the idea for the competition came following his meeting with bloggers.

“What better way to foster the spirit of 1Malaysia and promote unity than through this competition, which I hope will provide the platform for those with ideas to be heard,” he had said.

The three-month-long competition will end on Jan 5. Bloggers could write on various themes like history, lifestyle, tourism, music, heritage and culture, humanity, architecture and life in the Federal Territories - based on a storytelling concept to better promote Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan to tourists.

Winners will be determined by public-voting (constituting 30%) while the balance of points will be from a panel of judges comprising bloggers and editors Ahirudin Attan and Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, AirAsia CEO Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes and educationist Tan Sri Dr Lim Kok Wing.

Prizes waiting to be won include a Peugeot 308 VTI, a Kia Optima 2.0, Naza Prisma motorcycles, Dell computers, Blackberry Bold, Sony PSP, Ipod Touch, flight tickets, hotel stays and cash. These prizes are all worth over RM500,000.

Monthly prizes are also up for grabs for the best five blogs for all categories except the international category. For details, log on to www.blogforft.com.

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