After months of searching for the king and queen of cool in Muscat, Y’s Coolest Fresher came down to a tense and dramatic Grand Finale. Ladies and gentlemen, meet our winners
Over recent weeks, we’ve been trawling 10 colleges around the city in search of Muscat’s most talented first-year students and after some gruelling auditions, it all came down to a Grand Finale, held last week.
Once the talents had been put on show, from singing and dancing to beat boxing and poetry recitals, the judges had a hard task on their hands to narrow it down to just one male and one female.
With the votes in, Sohaib Ahmed Mustafa al Bohy (pictured above), a 19-year-old student from Middle East College (MEC), took the crown of Mr Coolest Fresher for his rapping abilities, while Laila al Busaidi (pictured below), a 20-year-old student from GUtech, claimed the title of Miss Coolest Fresher for her stunning rendition of Adele’s Someone Like You.
Despite his friends believing in him from the start, Sohaib reveals that he had his doubts, after only managing an hour of practice prior to his initial audition. “My friends had confidence in me and said that I would win, but I couldn’t believe that I had won, I was obviously very happy.
“It was amazing to see new people and such wonderful talent, it was a brilliant experience.”
Sohaib has been singing and rapping for six years, but this was the first time he had taken part in a talent contest of this scale. “I took part in smaller competitions, but they were not like this, this is my first big competition, and I am glad to have won it,” he tells Y.
Laila’s cover of Adele’s smash hit earned her a standing ovation from the judges and rapturous applause from the audience. Talking to Y, she says it was her first time participating in such a contest. “It’s my first big competition and I think I got so much more confident after winning the title. I wasn’t sure if I would win because I didn’t perform to my expectations. It was such a great experience and this just helped me believe in myself,” she says.
Laila doesn’t want to commercialise her success after winning the title, but will instead continue to sing for her own enjoyment. “I don’t intend on being a famous singer, but I want to sing as a hobby because I really enjoy singing; it makes me feel very good.” She says she has her family to thank for her talent; her father used to sing and her sister has an equally impressive voice.
She is saving the RO250 cash prize and will perhaps use it to travel abroad someday. “I want to thank each and every friend of mine for encouraging me at the finals, it really helped me with my confidence levels,” she says.
Running in tandem with the talent hunt was a catwalk competition in which we were simultaneously looking for Muscat’s male and femal Fashion Icons. Sporting a grey jacket, black trousers and a dark-blue bow tie, Hasnain Zafar, 21 (pictured above), was named the Splash Male Fashion Icon after wowing judges with his unique style.
The award was a surprise for Hasnain, who says he had mixed emotions after winning. “It was something completely unexpected. I was overwhelmed with the response and it felt amazing. We all were there together and I think everyone did a great job,” he says.
Hasnain says he selected his clothes, deciding on a formal look for the finale. Suffice to say, he impressed everyone with his geek chic.
“It was my first time walking the runway at the auditions in college,” he reveals. “It was just another day for me and I hadn’t even registered for the competition, but a friend of mine got me in, so I wasn’t mentally prepared. I was just there to encourage my friends who were taking part. Little did I know that at the end of it, I would be chosen.”
On the back of his win, Hasnain says he would like to look into a part-time modelling career as a new challenge in addition to his computer science major at MEC. “My friend has hooked me up with a company for a photoshoot and I will see how that goes, if there are modeling offers on my way, I will be happy taking those as well.”
Claiming the title for the girls was 20-year-old Yuri Nicole Barrios (pictured below), a student at the National Hospitality Institute. She was understandably delighted to be chosen as the winner. “I was so happy, and my friends and family were extremely overjoyed and proud of my achievement,” she says.
Although she has always wanted to become a model, this was Yuri’s first experience on the catwalk. “I’ve never done this before, which is why my parents didn’t even expect me to take part in such a competition. I was not expecting to win; I was just there to have fun and it just happened for me,” she smiles.
After winning the award, Yuri intends to use it as a platform to get into modeling professionally. “I really enjoy modelling and now that I have won an award, I think I want to make a career out of it. I enjoyed the competition a lot, it was such a fabulous experience meeting so many new and wonderful people.”
Of course, the event couldn’t have taken place without our sponsors, each of whom were happy with the reception the competition was given by the freshers of Muscat.
“It was one of the only competitions driven by us and it was something very unique that highlighted the talent of the first-year students in Oman. It was a very exciting journey for us,” says Anand Verma from Splash, the competition’s presenting sponsor.
Y’s Coolest Fresher was powered by the Ford Figo, which allowed the funky new car to connect with the youth of the city.
“Y’s Coolest Fresher unearthed some wonderful young talent in Oman. The contest created a buzz and excitement in colleges and left them yearning for more,” says a Ford spokesman.
“The Y team worked very hard to make it happen and we were happy to be associated with the event.”
Suaad Aal Thani from NESCAFE 3 in 1, the contest’s associate sponsor thought the competition was a brilliant idea. “I think it was such an amazing competition and well organised. The concept in general was wonderful and we want to support it year after year,” she says.
Who will be crowned the future king of queen of cool in Muscat? We’ll have to wait another year to find out.
The post Y’s Coolest Fresher: The Winners appeared first on Y Magazine.
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