Well, the long wait is over! After several rounds of auditions across four Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, 15 young and talented contestants have been selected into the Project Fame Academy in Lagos, where they will undergo grooming and training for a long lasting career in music.

Project Fame West Africa was officially opened on Sunday September 28 and it already promises to be an exciting competition, although the opening ceremony was fraught with several challenges. It was a night of failed microphones galore; the microphone for the judges wasn’t working half of the time and there was poor coordination between the presenters and the judges. The stage at the Project Fame Academy Theatre in Lagos, looked like a corporate dinner setting and the female presenter, dance prodigy and radio host, Funlola Raimi was too stiff. Dare Art- Alade was quite on point though! Anyway, it is a singing competition and so it should be the singing that counts and not all that I am complaining about.

By the way, the opening ceremony wasn’t all that bad, don’t get me wrong! But it could have been better. There were some amazing performances from Nigerian comedian, Basket Mouth, and the sensational 9ice. 18 finalists were chosen but only 10 had automatic entry into the academy while the remaining 8 had to perform on the night to book their place in the remaining 5 slots.

The 15 lucky contestants will be housed in the Project Fame Academy for a period of three months. There, they will receive voice, dance, and performance training by experts in these fields to become  a top-rated music icon. The 15 will also be given the opportunity to meet their favorite stars who would be conducting exclusive master-classes while sharing their wisdom and tips for success. I wish that there weren’t more Nigerians than representatives from the other three countries, but at least it is far better than what happened in South Africa in 2004 where there were 9 South Africans and 7 non-South Africans in Project Fame Africa. LOL!

The ultimate winner will take home exciting prize packages including an international recording contract, a 2008 Toyota Rav4 Jeep, and a sum of N2.5 million. The first runner-up will win a Toyota Corolla 2008 series, and the sum of N1.5 million while the second runner-up will smile home with a Toyota Yaris and the sum of N1 million. May the best contestant win!!

The talent-discovery reality show is being sponsored by MTN with support from Endemol and Ultima.