from YAPRap September 2007
by Lam Huynh
The Moree Plains Youth Council is a highly motivated and talented group of young people who live in the Moree Plains area. Building on their successful experience of organising events in previous years, the Youth Council this year attempted to showcase the diverse range of music talent that Moree Plains has to offer.
With a little help from YAPA in the form of a Youth Participation Grant, and other sponsors such as Harvey Norman, the Youth Council staged a singing contest extravaganza for young people aged 14 to 24 years, which was appropriately dubbed Moree Superstar!
Emerging singers, songwriters and musicians from the area including Walgett, Goondiwindi, Lightning Ridge, Bingara, and Narrabri gathered to have a chance at potentially becoming the next Kylie Minogue or Guy Sebastian.
Competition was fierce. Contestants battled though several auditions before a handful of finalists were selected to perform at a Gala Grand Final held at the showground in Moree during National Youth Week in April this year.
Besides having the title of being crowned Moree Superstar , prizes up for grabs included a LCD Television with Playstation Console, an Apple iPod, and a $1000 gift voucher.
Jacqualyn Drenkhahn, a young soloist, eventually took out first place with Adam Mills as runner up. In the group competition, Jake Newman and Jacqualyn Drenkhahn took out the honours as best group.
"We are very pleased with the outcome of the competition and the end result was excellent, hopefully next year will be even better", one of the organisers, Esther Chapman, said.
more information
YAPA's Youth Participation Grants Project
