Soulful seventeen year old takes out Urban Quest title

Seventeen year old Gabby Wright has won the 2012 Mission Australia Urban Quest youth talent competition.

Gabby stole the show with a soulful rendition of Adele’s “Make you feel my love”. The Palmerston student has been singing since the age of five and plans to pursue a career in music after finishing year twelve.

Urban Quest judges Mark Holden, Deni Hines and Paul Costa were captivated by the talent of all of the young contestants at the Sunday night grand final.

Mark Holden awarded his famous “touchdown” to four of the performers, while Deni and Paul created their own special “touchdown” for ten year old rap sensation Monique Chong of Alice Springs.

Mission Australia Operations Manager Jillian Smith said she was amazed with the wealth of talent they had discovered through the Urban Quest program.

“This has been a wonderful opportunity for Mission Australia to work with young people in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine and Alice Springs and help them achieve their potential. Be it the heats, mentoring sessions or the finals, they have all had a chance to put themselves forward and grow through the experience.”

In what was a truly hard job for the judges, second place was awarded to Monique Chong for “Hit ‘em high” and third went to 14 year old Shiane Hawke with a heartfelt performance of Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you”.

This is the second year Mission Australia has run the Urban Quest competition. Winners receive $1000 from Bendigo Community Bank Nightcliff for first place, and $250 and $150 from Amity Community Services for second and third.

During the Urban Quest events Mission Australia also raised funds towards a program against Cyber Bullying, with all donations collected at the finals going towards the two-week self-esteem program.

Urban Quest is proudly supported by Quest Serviced Apartments Parap, Argus Apartments Darwin, Bendigo Community Bank Nightcliff, Amity Community Services, Independent Grocers, Coca Cola, Local hirers subsidy, Dream Media, Casuarina Square and the Darwin Entertainment Centre.

For more information on Urban Quest go to www.missionaustralia.com or http://www.facebook.com/#!/MissionAust

Judges make tough call on Urban Quest finalists

For two years running the judges of Mission Australia's Urban Quest have been faced with the near impossible task of choosing the Top End finalists for the youth talent competition.
Once again breaking the rules, they have selected nine finalists instead of the required eight.
Performances at the Casuarina Square semi finals last night displayed a wealth of talent, creativity and inspiration. Songs performed included classic numbers from the stage and theatre, country ballads, soul, pop and original rap tunes.
The Urban Quest Top End finalists will be joined by Alice Springs finalists at the Darwin Entertainment Centre this Sunday night as the young performers strive for the 2012 Urban Quest title and $1000 prize money from Bendigo Bank.

Sunday night's finalists are:

First Name	Last Name	Age	School
Andrea	Carvolth	17	Darwin High School
Brandon	Folino-Driver	15	Darwin High School
Charlee	Mullins	13	Taminmin College
Gabby	Wright	17	Palmerston Senior College
Jayde	Schluter	15	Darwin High School
Jenaya	Allen	13	St Phillips College
Karina	Williams	16	Darwin High School
Kaiyah	Chadwick	12
Monique	Chong	10	Ross Park Primary School
Shiane	Hawke	14	Dripstone Middle School
VJ	Bumanlag	16	Marrara Christian College

Urban Quest is judged by Australian  by Australian music idols Mark Holden, Deni Hines and Paul Costa. Deni, Paul and last year’s Urban Quest winner, Tevita Moala, will also perform at Sunday’s finals.
The singing competition celebrates young talent, music and community and aims to help young Territorians build self-­‐esteem and confidence.
The event is proudly supported by Bendigo Bank, Amity, Argus Apartments Darwin, Quest Serviced Apartments Parap, Independent Grocers and Coca Cola.
The Urban Quest Finals will be held at the Darwin Entertainment Centre at 7pm, tickets are available from the box office.

6 Facebook tips to protect your reputation

By Tracy Jones

Facebook can be a booby trap for people in the public eye. And you don’t have to be famous to get caught out. I’ve seen public servants, senior executives, front-line staff and company representatives all find themselves in hot water with a simple slip of the mouse.

1.       Check your security settings regularly. Facebook is constantly changing its security settings. You need to stay on top of what you are and are not allowing others to see. Pay particular attention to the Timeline and Tagging settings, which control the level of privacy on what others are saying about you.

2.       Ditch the funny profile photo. I know of a case where two men were killed in a tragic accident. The media sourced photos of them from their Facebook profiles and plastered them all over the news – one posing in his uniform and the other obviously taken during a long Sunday-afternoon session with the boys.

3.       Be careful what you Like. Yep. That new Facebook page “I think the Government sucks and should be thrown out at the next election” was really funny. It’s just a shame you’re a public servant and your boss doesn’t agree. You might also want to think twice before Liking “I’m not an alcoholic – I’m Australian” or “If I could punch you without getting in trouble, believe me, I would”.

4.     Keep track of your friends. Remember your second cousin’s ex-girlfriend who befriended you on Facebook a few years back? She now works as a journalist for the local newspaper.

5.     Your friends have other friends. It’s a great lark when you and your friends share a “private” joke about what you got up to on the weekend. Just be aware that they have other friends who may not see the funny side. You particularly need to watch for this one if you missed point number 1.

6.     Don’t drink and drive. Don’t drive a car, a keyboard or a mouse.