Those finalists present were (left to right) Camden James, Leigha Burke, Kenrico Wheatley, Kaywanna Pope and Durnel Sanderson. The three others who were at the college at the time were Kitwan Maduro, Nakeira Penn and Dia Noel. Photo: VINO

Former winner of the talent show X-Factor Melanie Ann Amaro will be in the Virgin Islands for the finals of the Gen Y Factor. Photo: Internet source

Pete Smith (left) of the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and acting Director of the Department Brenda Lettsome-Tye (right). Photo: VINO

Kenrico Wheatley, one of the eight finalists, belting out a verse from Adele. Photo: VINO

This was announced on Tuesday May 10, 2016 at a press conference held at UPs Cineplex and hosted by the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports.

“The Department of Youth Affairs and Sports is proud to have put this together and we are glad that the young people have responded well to come out and be a part of this competition,” said one of the coordinators of the show, Pete Smith.

The show started off with 32 persons in February 2016 and that number has been whittled down to eight finalists who will compete for the crown on June 25, 2016 at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.

“We have made it through the semi-final rounds [with 15] and now we are down to the finalists who will compete on June 25, 2016,” said Smith.

Identifying VI talent

Acting Director of the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports Brenda Lettsome-Tye said the purpose of the show is simply to identify and showcase the talent of the territory’s youth.

“We wanted to focus on artistic talent whether dance, spoken word or song but we have ended up spending most of our focus on song. The show is loosely based on the X-Factor format where the persons sing in front of a panel of judges where they are given feedback on their performances,” said Lettsome-Tye.

She said there was a semi-final show on April 9, 2016. “We narrowed the numbers down to eight finalists, five of whom are with us today,” she said, noting that those who were not present had classes at the HLSCC.

Those finalists present were Camden James, Leigha Burke, Kenrico Wheatley, Kaywanna Pope and Durnel Sanderson. The three others who were at the college at the time were Kitwan Maduro, Nakeira Penn and Dia Noel.

“We have secured Ms Melanie A. Amaro who we all know was of the X-Factor show...and she will be with us as a guest judge and as the feature performer. We have Digicel as a sponsor,” said Lettsome-Tye.

Each of the five young contestants then gave a sampling of their musical and vocal talent and this news site can attest to their talent based on what we heard. The judges will indeed have their work cut out for them to select one out of the eight very talented youth as their winner.

It is hoped that the winner receives a cash prize but so far sponsors and other persons have made commitments to award non-monetary prizes to the winners.