The much awaited and celebrated Delta Talent Quest (DTQ) project auditions have finally come and gone with a lot of fanfare.
DTQ is a youth talent development project aimed at redirecting the energy of young Deltans into more creative endeavours. This project is the initiative of Richard Mofe-Damijo, Special Adviser to the Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, on Entertainment and Talent Development, who during the flag-off of the project said, “the insignificant will become a sought after in a very short while. And our society will be better for it.”
DTQ, which is fashioned as a reality TV Show, brought Delta State to a stand still for 29 days as the project train toured major towns and cities in the state finding new creative talents. The places touched were Asaba, the state capital; Agbor, Kwale, Ozoro, Ughelli, Patani, Warri, Sapele, Oghara and Abaraka; they all had their young talents being part of the auditions. In all, over 1,900 youths were auditioned in these towns from November 10 -24. The turn out of the young and creative talents was overwhelming, encouraging but challenging.
About 200 of the contestants who made it to the call back-Next Level stage returned to auditions, which took place in Warri on November 27 and 28 and Asaba on November 29.
Thirty-four contestants made it to the Home-Run stage which is the final leg of auditions before the final 12 will be chosen to slug it out in the reality TV house for the grand prize of a brand new 2008 Toyota Corolla car, N1 million and a recording deal.
Sammie Okposo, Zubby Enebeli and Ashionye Ugboh served as judges while Kefee and BabaDes served as alternate judges. The project organisers played an interesting card by introducing two new main judges Quincy Tiebet and Maureen Ejezie at the call back -Next Level stage.
Explaining the reason for the twist, Miss Nina Anyianuka, DTQ project director, said the idea was to keep the show fresh as the sight of two new judges would definitely keep the contestants on their toes. She added that a lot more twists would be introduced with the hope of making the whole process more interesting. She further explained that the Home-Run stage of auditions would take place in Asaba on Sunday, January 4, 2009. Twelve contestants will go in for the reality TV show, which will start almost immediately. She revealed that apart from the grand prize, the second place winner will get a cash prize of N750,000 while the third place winner will walk away with N500,000.
Mofe-Damijo stressed that the project is aimed at redirecting the energy of young Deltans into more creative endeavors, adding economic value to the talent these youths posses, thereby liberating them financially and also show the world the positive side of Delta State and Nigeria as a whole. He said, it is his hope that the project will serve as a springboard for all the young people who took part in the auditions to take off and blossom.
