Twenty-six out of the remaining 36 DreamStar Zimbabwe Talent Show national contestants are set to be eliminated at the competition’s semi-finals show on Saturday at Longcheng Plaza in Harare.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
The lucky top 10 contestants will then qualify for this year’s grand finale of the annual talent show set for October 7 at Harare International Conference Centre.
The show seeks to empower gifted young people and is organised by the Chinese Federation of Zimbabwe (CFZ) in partnership with Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation and the Embassy of China to Zimbabwe.
DreamStar spokesperson Tinashe Kitchen yesterday told NewsDay that the auditions went according to script, adding that the level of competition was very high.
“We are happy with the progress after both the city and university auditions as in our efforts to broaden the horizons this year we reached to students in universities as a direct way of promoting cultural and economic development. A total of 36 national participants were selected and are set to battle for honours on Saturday for the grand finale ticket,” he said.
“The level of competition was amazing and we had a sweltering time to choose the 36 contestants who are going to be trimmed to 10 as we head for the grand finale set for October 7 at Harare International Conference Centre.”
Kitchen said from the universities they picked three contestants, a winner and two runners-up with the winners given $300 each towards their education, while the runners up automatically qualification for the semi-finals.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
He said as a way of making the competition bigger and better they launched the DreamStar Scholarship Foundation with the assistance of the Embassy of China that has seen them securing partnerships with various schools in China including Southeast University in Nanjing to provide academic scholarships for all qualified contestants.
This year the ultimate winner of the competition is set to pocket $3 000 and a recording deal with Dreamstar’s recording label, JCMC Studios, while the second and third prizes were pegged at $1 500 and $750 respectively with opportunities to travel to China on cultural exchange tour.
