By Asmahanim Amir
Pix Ikhwan Hashim

BANGI, May 10 2016 – For Law student Mohd Naufal Mohd Nasrollah, it was first time lucky when he reached the finals of the  Intellectual Property Poetry Reciting Competition.

Mohd Naufal, who is the third year student from the Faculty of Law at The National University of Malaysia (UKM)  did not expect in his first attempt to make it to the finals, along with  seven other participants held here recently.

He emerged the sole UKM representative after three colleagues were eliminated, leaving him to fight it out with the other contestants representing various  organisations.

“I only learnt poetry at secondary school and never took part in any competition before this,” he told  the UKM News Portal.

Despite not winning, he regards it as a challenge and a new experience to show off his poetry quatrain talent.

This poetry quatrain contest, however, came with a twist.

Participants must recite quatrain in theatrical form and he was also keen to demonstrate his acting skills.

The changes to the format was made by the Head of the  National Writers Associations of Malaysia (GAPENA), Prof Datuk Wira Dr Abdul Latiff Abu Bakar.

He said this concept is spontaneous poetry in vignettes which tests the speed of and improvisation of participants.

Some 24 participants representing various organisations took part in the  competition held over two days, starting with a workshop and an elimination round before the finals at UKM.