Got talent? Got success? Enter the TTA now!Article from 23.5.2006
Mika Tyyskä, winner of three awards at the TTA 05, completed his amazing Guitar Shred Show project especially for the TTA at the last minute. Surprisingly for him and unsurprisingly for the Jury, he won and got invited to the Festival in Vienna: “The whole week was exciting and nice. It was amazing getting together with all those amazing people.” Mika won the “Online / Broadband” category and picked up the overall TTA 2005 prize, which helped him to establish himself professionally and remain true to his ambitions: “I hope this wasn’t the peak. The TTA’s were my break, it helped me and gave me recognition. Now my country knows my work. One year ago my future was totally different. I did all the projects I could get employed for and I would frustrate myself. Now I can pick the right projects - that’s the new challenge.” Since August 2005, the website has attracted over a million visitors. Winning the TTA awards also exposed him to international media coverage from MTV, BBC, SAT 1, ORF and New York TV News. This exposure and the TTA networking opportunities have led to numerous offers – ranging from work with metal band Dream Theatre, music videos and conferences. Mika also met his guitar hero Steve Vai who took an interest in the project! Mika is now even collaborating with his fellow TTA 05 compatriots behind the Air Guitar project: “I met them on the plane to Vienna. They turned out to be really nice people and they asked me to help them develop a console game and work as a guitar specialist. The guys are ambitious and we’re developing an interesting, big project.”
Mika feels that his success was inspired by the Top Talent Awards since it pushed him to create the project while the TTA network help him to find new opportunities, contacts and friends: “It was really good to get recognition. The awards will really help me in the future, get contacts and make me more believable for professionals. My projects are taken more seriously.” Mika even receives hundreds of fan-mails for Guitar Shred Show. He recommends that potential entrants should be bold and show confidence in their work by entering the TTA competition: “If you believe in your projects, put it in. If you have a good project, it’s small money if you believe in it. It’s such an experience to be a finalist.” All this turned on Mika deciding to push himself to meet the TTA deadline.
Enter now and maybe you are the next winner! Register your project on www.toptalent.europrix.org.
