In case you didn't get it, the ambassador for this year's event is none other than uri WINNER oppas omo!!

So first of all, how did I enter this contest?

I've heard about this contest on Instagram. You know the ads we all hate that creeps in our igstory and on our feeds... That's exactly how!

When I first heard of it being a video contest, I was thrilled. Because it means that I can have fun making videos again. It didn't have to be good... I just wanted to produce something for that matter. I always tell myself "there's no harm trying" and though I kept procrastinating, I ended up submitting a video. A cringe-worthy one. Tengok la if you wish to.

The idea behind that video is simple. I knew I wanted to do a dance cover, but I didn't want to do just that, since I knew most people would go for dance covers as well (that's what Korea is famous for after all). 

This year's Talk! Talk! Korea consists of 5 categories - "K-Food", "K-Music & Drama", "K-Beauty & Style", "ETC" and a special topic for this year; "Peace on the Korean peninsula". So you are allowed to submit your videos based on these categories (can apply for more than one, but they will decide which category if yours are chosen). I submitted mine for "ETC" (bcos my video had elements of Hangeul and Taekwondo) and also for "K-Music & Drama" (which I know damn well I won't a have chance in but #siscuba).

Long story short, I made it to the final 75... fighting for the grand prize, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place. Since there are 75 finalists and 5 categories, there are 15 finalists for each category. Out of the 15 people, the rankings will be determined through online voting that happens weekly and as much as 4 times. Yes, brace yourselves if you are chosen as the finalists. Simplest way to phrase it is for each category, 5 people who lost the first voting are the 5th place winners, 4 people who lost the second voting are the 4th place winner, 3 people who lost the third voting are the 3rd place winners and the last voting determines the 2nd and grand prize winners. Hope that made sense. 

How voting works? Anyone with a Facebook or Google account can vote by logging in. Vote can be cast daily (by daily I mean after 24 hours since the previous voting). So, y'all can use all your different accounts to vote for one person or even everyone. Vote counts are renewed after every voting stage. So, you must work hard to survive again and again. However, voting only results to 40% of the scores, while the other 60% is based on internal judging.

I won 3rd place meaning I competed for 3 out of 4 online votings. Honestly speaking, on the second round, my votes aren't even that high compared to others and I was really surprised for the fact that I managed to surpass that stage. It was really unexpected to go that far considering how mediocre my video was. It's either the judges liked my work more. or that the other finalists who got more votes, were illegally buying them... God knows.

My personal thoughts on this? I hate when I have to bother people and beg them to vote for me or do me any sort of favour, and this contest requires me to do just that. To my surprise, my friends (especially my uni friends) were all so supportive and I'm glad I don't have to be so secretive about that part of me during these desperate times. But on the other hand, I can't help but feel like I'm being judged and that kinda made me feel a little insecure and slightly embarrassed.

Now, is the prize worth it? This part of the story is the one you don't see upfront. Yeah the prize they are giving are cool gadgets and a trip to Korea and whatnot. But of course, the struggle to receive that prize is real as well. 

In my case, I won a PC tablet. The receiving process actually took a long time. The contest ended officially on the end of August after the final voting. I received the email saying the prize will be shipped on September and received early October. But that didn't happen because Koreans have long holidays (Chuseok a.k.a Korean Thanksgiving) in September and it's hard to ship them(?) A month later, they emailed again saying they had to postpone the shipment due to few holidays during the first and second week of October and will deliver by the end of October instead. No doubt that it's a pretty long wait but though they did not update frequently, I still appreciate them for updating us through those emails.

Once my item reaches custom on the 25th of October, I was contacted by the courier company saying I needed a permit. So one thing I wasn't aware was that electronic goods in Malaysia requires SIRIM permit and there's a lot of procedures in applying for them. Also, these extra costs aren't supported by the sender which is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Korea and had been clarified (though was too late since I settled myself) via email as I've prompted. 

It took me a week to settle the SIRIM permit and custom clearance for it to ship to my house. The main problem is the fact that I wasn't informed on the product brand and model beforehand. In order to apply for the permit, SIRIM insisted on knowing the exact product brand and model which I didn't know. As I've mentioned the sender replied to my email quite late and as the custom clearance would charge extra for longer storage time, I knew I needed to settle it soonest. In the end, I requested the courier to open the package and get the product details for me, as how my annoyed dad suggested. 

For SIRIM permit, once I told them the required details, they sent me an email of the application procedure stating they will process the application within 24 hours for walk-in but 2-3 days through email. I don't get how the system supposed to be any different but haihh. I asked my dad to do walk-in since I was still in Melaka and SIRIM is based in Shah Alam, Selangor, just so that I could get the courier to ship the product to me soonest. The courier literally called me everyday for an update on the permit. The permit was settled within the same day (walk-in at noon and received permit via email in the evening). The courier shipped the next day or so.

Additional cost on receiving the prize? RM100 for the permit and RM116 for the custom clearance (including the handling fee by the courier company). Now was it all really worth it? The tablet costed USD250 and it's LG, so wasn't the most hyped brand for a tablet. I would probably appreciate it more if it was an iPad, but sadly it wasn't. I personally don't find a tablet to be that useful since I spend most time either on my phone or laptop to do work. I don't know if I would be able to sell it off for a good price as well. 

I guess the experience was all that mattered. I love the fact I represented my country since no other Malaysian ended up being a finalist and also, my video received so many views lol. For me to be part of a global contest, made it so honorable since it doesn't happen everyday. So I'm still grateful nevertheless, but not gonna lie this contest did gave me good amount of stress ever since the constant voting until the shipment process... I'm glad it ended well, is all I can say.

Here is a video compilation of the winners for the "ETC" category;

Thank you so much for your interest if you ended up reading all that. Sorry if I wasn't being that helpful. If you are thinking of joining next year, GOOD LUCK!! I know the struggle and am truly wishing you the best! Just believe in yourself, hwaiting!