24 Oct – Yahoo! has launched an online short film competition together with Malaysia Airlines (MAS) titled "Yahoo-MAS Cili Padi Awards", and winners can bring home cash prizes up to RM 20,000 and an internship at Malaysian production company KRU Studios. The winner or winning team will get RM 20,000 in cash and an internship at KRU Studios, while the first runner-up and second runner-up will get RM 12,000 and RM 8,000 respectively. All the winning short films will receive a special screening at TGV Cinemas nationwide. To enter, participants first have to be above 18 years of age. They can either go at it solo or form a group with up to four members. Their video submissions can be on any subject, providing that it is devoid of offensive and explicit material and not exceeding three minutes in length. The panel of judges consist of local actresses Lisa Surihani and Sharifah Amani; Marc Lourdes, Country Editor of Yahoo Malaysia; and Khairul Syahar Khalid, Head of Advertising & Promotions Department, Malaysia Airlines.
According to Marc Lourdes, "Watching videos online is a daily habit for millions of people, so the Internet offers a phenomenal opportunity to budding filmmakers to show their talent. This is the basis for Chili Padi. The initiative will not only to inspire and delight our users but hopefully unleash new set of creative talent in Malaysia." He added, "Yahoo-MAS Cili Padi Awards will not be a popularity contest. We will be judging the short films based on how good it is. For me, a good story is what makes or break a film, but of course, other elements like acting, cinematography and soundtrack must assist in the presentation of the story well." Yahoo-MAS Cili Padi Awards will run from 23 October to 11 November 2013. The top three winners will be announced at the premiere on 23 November 2013 at TGV 1 Utama's Luxe Hall.