A trip to the Maldives has long been on Michele Loh's bucket list.

So she was thrilled to learn this week that she had won a seven- night stay at the luxury Soneva Fushi resort in the Maldives as part of a reader giveaway by The Life e-magazine.

The Straits Times' award- winning quarterly digital publication held a contest in its December travel issue last year, offering two holidays to readers.

Aside from the stay at Soneva Fushi, the other prize was for a four-night journey aboard the Aqua Mekong, a luxury river expeditions vessel by Aqua Expeditions.

More than 800 entries were received for the contest. Readers who participated had to answer a question about The Life and the winners were picked in a lucky draw. The Life can be downloaded for free from The Straits Times Star E-books App.

Ms Loh, 32, who works in human resources, took part in the contest after seeing an advertisement for it in Life. She says: "I consider myself quite lucky. It's going to be my first time in the Maldives, which is one of my dream destinations."

She will be bringing her self- employed husband, Mr Allan Chan, 32, for the trip, which consists of a stay at a beachfront two-storey Crusoe Villa.

"I'm very excited and we're planning to go there in July. It would be good to escape from the hustle and bustle here for a bit and relax by the beach."

The winner of the Aqua Mekong trip is Mr Warren Kok, 48. The consultant for a hospitality group says it will be a "homecoming of sorts" as he used to work in Cambodia.

The cruise takes guests through Vietnam and Cambodia to explore undiscovered areas of the Mekong River. Mr Kok and his partner, whom he is planning to take on the trip, will get to stay in a suite on board the luxury 62.4m-long boat. They plan to go in June.

Mr Kok, a regular reader of The Life, read about the giveaway in the December issue.

He says: "I'll probably take this opportunity to take photos and appreciate the people, the cuisine and the livelihood in Vietnam and Cambodia."