Story by Leslie Tan.

After a final two days of frenzied voting that saw the lead change hands a few times, the picture of Samuel Cheong of Gongshang Primary finally emerged as the winner of the Picture of the Year 2007 contest.

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This picture of Samuel Cheong of Gongshang Primary in action during the 2007 Inter-School Track and Field Championships is the Red Sports Picture of the Year for 2007. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports


Chosen entirely by readers’ votes, the contest started quietly a month ago with Samuel Cheong’s picture soon in a comfortable lead. It stayed that way for a long time until December 19 when Jocelyn Ng’s picture started surging up the rankings to take over the lead. For the next four days, Jocelyn’s picture proved a tough competitor, always keeping ahead of Samuel’s picture. Her picture lost the lead once or twice but her supporters would soon vote her back into the lead.

And so it stayed that way until 11:00 p.m. on December 23, one hour to go before the poll was to close. The voting then exploded. With one last huge push, a massive show of voting support surged through the fibre optic cables to drive Samuel Cheong’s picture inexorably into the lead. From trailing by 10 votes, Samuel Cheong’s picture started to pull away dramatically from his nearest competitor to lead by 33 at one point. Fighting back, Jocelyn Ng’s supporters narrowed the deficit down to 25. But the voting bloc standing solidly behind Samuel Cheong’s picture was too potent for anyone to take and the picture finally romped home as the winner by an impressive 57 votes.

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Jocelyn Ng of Yio Chu Kang Secondary in action during a game against Singapore Sports School during the 2007 North Zone Championship. © Leslie Tan/Red Sports

Voting Statistics:

Samuel Cheong’s picture: 713 votes

Jocelyn Ng’s picture: 656

Total number of votes cast: 2,369

Total number of voters: 1,795

Most bizarre campaign line in the chat box: “Ice Kacang is Samuel’s fave food. Vote for Samuel!”

Funniest comment in the chat box: “this day is the day i pressed the most refresh buttons in my whole life…”

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You can see all the comments and the results of the voting for the Picture of the Year contest at the following link:

Picture of the Year 2007