Comments like, it "Gives you a feeling of calmness and pushes you to a higher level", and "They sing like professional singers, the song is so soothing and it's really fantastic" helped a couple of university undergraduates win the readers' choice for their podcast entry in the AsiaOne This Is Me contest.

Ashley Chris John, 23, and Sam Raven, 22, both studying in Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, took part in the podcast segment of the contest earlier this year.

Their entry - a music track titled Love in Isolation - impressed the judging panel with its professional sound mixing.

For topping their category, the duo won a 4GB iPod Nano.

They were already very pleased with that win, and were in total surprise when informed about their latest win, which landed them a Macbook.

"It was an honour and definitely a surprise. I had not expected to win anything!" Sam told AsiaOne.

"I feel grateful to those who voted, and my heartfelt thanks goes out to each and everyone of them who did. Without their votes, I wouldn't be feeling on top of the world as I am now. To win the Macbook, (the grand prize in this competition) I felt for once that my music talent had been properly recognized. That feeling of recognition cannot be described in words," added Ashley, who was in town to collect his prize.

The duo already have plans for their future as a band, and it seems this win and the satisfaction from the recognition they are getting for their work has spurned them on even harder.

"We intend to gain international recognition for our talents and music production. We also aim to recruit 4-5 extra session musicians (it would be impossible for just Sam and I to handle all the music live) in the case of performing live which we will kick off in Perth when the time is right," said Ashley.

Ashley and Sam were not the only winners of this contest.

AsiaOne reader Neo Luen Yuen, who voted for them, also won a Macbook. 34-year-old Mr Neo Luen Yuen, was also happy to meet Ashley, and proceeded to request to download the song from him when they were introduced. Mr Neo, who works at UOB, handling credit card operations and merchant payments, was especially pleased with his prize, as he does not have a personal computer at home. So now he does not need to go to the library if he wants to use a computer anymore. A regular AsiaOne reader since the site's revamp last year, Mr Neo told us that he finds AsiaOne very informative, as he can find 'anything under the sun'. This is especially useful, since he has a varied interest.

"I like reading the sports, health and travel sections. AsiaOne Travel was especially useful in planning my trip to Australia this year, in terms of what to see and do, and where to stay."

Fret not, if you did not win the Macbook this time round, voting for the vodcast segment of the contest is currently underway and you could win the second Macbook giveaway.

Check it out now!

Additional reporting by Adrian Lim

Photos by Benjamin Seetor