SUBANG JAYA: Joshua Lo, a 17-year-old student from Sabah, may not have won a prize for his artwork at the Creative Media Award 2009 competiton but he was certainly the luckiest contestant.

When he was shortlisted to contest in the final, held at The One Academy premises in Subang Jaya, Selangor, he didn’t have the money to make the trip.

That’s when Niti Ibrahim, 38, an art teacher at his Lok Yuk High School in Kota Kinabalu came to the rescue. She paid for Lo’s airfare and accomodation, just so he’d have the chance to compete.

He didn’t go home empty handed, though. During a lucky draw of the names of the 800 shortlisted contestants, The One Academy’s principal Tatsun Hoi pulled Lo’s name out of the box.

Lo looked stunned as he went to receive the prize — an Acer notebook computer — from Hoi a few minutes later.

Still reeling from the applause, Lo said he is eternally grateful to his art teacher.

“When I was notified that I was in the final, I knew my family couldn’t afford the extra expense. My father is a telemarketer and business is bad,” he said.

“I showed Puan Niti the notification and she told me she would sponsor me. This made me work even harder during art class.”

Niti said she sponsored Lo because she is confident of his ability as an artist. A mother of two, she has been teaching Lo art for the past two years and sees tremendous potential in him.

“He is talented and I know there is a career in art for him. I told him win or lose, it doesn’t matter. It’s an experience either way,” she said.

“My husband asked me if I really wanted to do this because the whole trip would cost about RM3,000 in total for Joshua and me.

“I said yes, and he said ‘Ok, use my credit card,’” Niti said and laughed.

Many of the other contestants were full of praise for the art teacher. “It’s heartwarming to see that some teachers are so dedicated and nice,” said one. “There should be a Good Samaritan award in this competition,” said another.

Lo said he couldn’t agree more.

Before returning home, he said, he would do some sightseeing with his teacher. “The last time I was in Kuala Lumpur was about 10 years ago,” he said. — STEVEN PATRICK

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