The finals for the 20th Golden Voice Awards, a singing contest that has had quite a history in TKU were held on May 12 at the Student Activity Center. The biggest winner of this evening was Yang Deng-jun, a senior of the Department of Physics, who walked away with the Best Creative Song and the Best Song Composition. Other winners include Hsu Zhi-jay, a grad student of the Future Studies, who won the third place in Duet and Creative Song, whereas Tien Yi-zhe retains his crown in Duo.

Yang Deng-jun is humble about his awards as he praised the achievement of other contestants. The song he composed that won him the Best Creative Song, “Big Head Girl” was written as a prank on one of his best friends, but it turned out to be a catchy song that became contagious with the audiences who were also entertained by the accompanying dance put on by dancers wearing a big Afro-hairdo from the 70’s. The same song also won Yang the Best Arrangement.

As for Hsu Zhi-jay, he did not win any awards in the Solo category, though the same performance won him the third place in a different contest elsewhere (held by the Cheng Chi University). However, he won the third place in Duet with Zhao Che Yun, a grad student from the Education Technology. He apparently does not mind his “third place” streak when he talked about them gleefully. He often goes busking along the Tamsui river bank, so the song that won him the third place in Best Creative Song, “On my own”, was written about such a experience of busking to total strangers to whom he may appear oblivious at time.

Other songs won awards in the Creative Song category are equally creative and interesting. “Little Carpenter”, that won the second place had the singer, He Chin-yuan wearing a carpenter outfit performing this song, whereas Hsu You-ting’s “Bicycle” that won the Best Lyrics, contains graphic and lively descriptions of riding a bicycle. There are also some songs with more serious messages. Ke Kuang-yu’s “It’s OK”, for example, sings about the Tsunami disaster that occurred nearly two years ago.

The champion in the Duet category, Tien, won the same award last year, is nonetheless, surprised at his win this year. He and his partner, with their perfect harmonized jazzy song, stood out with their unusual choice amid so many pop songs, and thus did not expect to win. They were thrilled by being favored by the judges and audiences. (~ Ying-hsueh Hu )