Tight competition looms as aspiring dancers and journalists have their eyes on top prizes at the ongoing third edition of the ‘Talent Zone’ competition. The annual competition, which kicked off last month, is organised by Royal FM to give a platform to the young generation to showcase their talents, both in dancing and journalism. This year’s edition has seen over 1,800 aspiring dancers and radio presenters who registered for both the dance competition from across the country. However, only six dance groups and have so far qualified for the next stages The six groups that qualified so far include YCEG dance crew, which made it through the Kayonza auditions, the Masters from Musanze, Hope Dance Crew from Rubavu, Muhanga-based dance crew Wasafi, as well as KTY and KDP dance crews which qualified last weekend at Maison des Jeunes Kimisagara. They will be joined by the four other groups which will qualify at the final auditions today, September 14, at Club Rafiki, Nyamirambo. Emmanuel Murenzi, the competition coordinator, told SaturdayTimes, that the judges had a big challenge to decide who passes and who stays given that the competition was too tight among contestants from both categories. He said that there should be many similar competitions so that more talents can be discovered and be given a platform to allow young people to pursue their dreams. “The competition helped to unearth talent both in dancing and journalism categories. You can imagine how many people out there with talent but miss out on such opportunities and their talents go to waste because they have no platform to show what they are capable of,” Murenzi said in a telephone interview. “We have seen amazing talents during this edition and their performances have been quite exciting. I am pretty sure some media house bosses are plotting to come to our event finals to recruit the most talented radio presenters given a number of phone calls I received from them recently,” he added. Contestants who passed the auditions from different parts of the country progressed to the pre-selection sessions or semi-finals slated for October 5, at Club Rafiki, a week before the finals. The winners from each category will be announced at the grand finale slated for October 12, at Hilltop Hotel. The winning dance group at the competition winner will walk away with a cash prize of Rwf1, 000, 000, with the first and second runners-up set to pocket Rwf500,000 and Rwf300,000, respectively. Meanwhile, the winning contestant in the category of radio presenters will be handed a contract as a journalist at Royal FM. The first and second runners-up will be awarded cash prizes worth Rwf300,000, and Rwf200,000 and a three-month internship as radio presenters at the radio. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
