Emila's blog lands her a Peugeot

New Straits Times - 2010/04/04
By Halim Said    


KUALA LUMPUR: Quitting her 9am to 5pm job three years ago turned out to be a step in the right direction for freelance illustrator Emila Yusof.

She finally had the time to concentrate on her family, painting and her favourite pastime, blogging.

An avid blogger since 2007, Emila blogs on just about everything including her families' activities, her flamboyant 7-year-old son Yassin, and her paintings and drawings.

She also manages her own online kiosk called "Littleshop", which offers a variety of her artwork for sale.

With her enthusiasm for blogging, it was not surprising that Emila jumped at the chance to take part in the Blog for FT, a four-month competition to inspire bloggers to create a positive buzz about the Federal Territories.

Her eye-catching entry won the grand prize in the public category and with it, a brand new Peugeot 308 VTi.

Emila, however, could not make it for the prize-giving ceremony at the Sime Darby Convention Centre, recently.

She was instead represented by her husband, 47-year- old Mohd Zaim Mohd Tahet, and her son, Yassin.

In an online interview later, Emilia told Streets that her son had inspired her on her winning blog.

"My son and I like to go around the city and visit places where the whole family can enjoy.

"The blog is also meant as a learning tool for parents to familiarise their children about places in the city," said Emila.

Her winning entry "KL: A to Z Fun Things to Do & Places to Visit with Kids" is posted on her blog www.emilayusof. com.

It is in the format of a 27-page interactive book comprising sketches and information on places of interest in the city.

Emila had also posted several postcards depicting places of interests in all the three Federal Territories which can be downloaded for free from her blog.

The postcards are illustrated by her.

Apart from the public category which Emila won, the Blog for FT contest also had other categories, namely, media, international and youth.

Columnist Cheong Peck Beng won a Kia Optima Novus under the media category while Australian Barbara McKay topped the international category.

The youth category was won by active community service volunteer Yeow Minyi.

McKay won holiday packages while Yeow won a notebook.

The prizes were presented by Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin who was happy with the response to the contest.

He said the contest had attracted more than 4,000 entries and 300,000 page views.

"The blogs were not only viewed by Malaysians but also those from foreign countries. I believe it is a big success.

"This will help promote Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya to the world," said Raja Nong Chik.

The Bologna International Children's Book Fair 2010 is the biggest book fair in the world focusing on children books. It's a trade fair that attracts publishers and media from all over the world. At the fair, rights are bought and sold and new books and new technology are launched. So it's certainly very exciting and the Agency is glad to  be there this year. We have a stand at the Malaysian pavilion and displayed our clients' books and artwork. This year we also sponsored a Malaysian children's book author and illustrator, Emila Yusof to visit the fair. It's Emila's first visit to Italy so it's certainly a good experience for her.

At the same time, the Society of Children's Book Writer and Illustrator (SCBWI) had their biennial convention a day before the fair and also had a booth at the fair itself. So it was a pretty busy time for me as I had duties at the SCBWI booth as well as at the Malaysian pavilion.

I was pleased to see that the books we brought received good response and many people stopped and admired Yusof Gajah's Elephabet, Mother&Child, Emila's Little Guardians and many others.

The very first time I exhibited at the fair last year, I was rather overwhelmed by the many quality books on display but this year I feel our books (from our increasing number of clients) are certainly competitive and truly outstanding in some cases (please allow me my small moment of pride as I am certainly proud of the work produced by our clients and am working hard to promote them to a wider market).

Of course it doesn't just end here. The fair is a good opportunity for market research and networking and continuous follow up is essential to turn those interested queries into sales for our clients. So here's to hard work and wish me luck!