Egyptian Male and Moroccan Female Named Winners of the Amr Diab Academy on YouTube
Amr Diab Engages with Fans Through the Video After Nearly 100,000 votes cast
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: January 19, 2013 – YouTube announced today the winners for best male and best female voice for the Amr Diab Academy. Moroccan Wafaei Chikki, and Egyptian Mohanad Zoheir were crowned the winners. The winners will sing live on stage with Amr Diab at an upcoming concert.
The Amr Diab YouTube Academy was created as part of Amr Diab’s efforts to engage more with fans using the power of the Internet to reach his fans worldwide. His YouTube channel is one of the most popular across the Middle East and North Africa.
The Academy allowed the YouTube users from anywhere around the world to enter the talent competition. Nearly 100,000 votes were cast throughout the various phases of the entire campaign which kicked off in June last year when 1000 users entered the competition.
The top 30 contestants were selected based on the top votes and moved to the mentoring phase of the competition where they received guidance regarding their performance via Google+ hangout workshops with the Amr Diab Academy judging panel, comprised of several iconic celebrity music producers and industry veterans such as Hamid El-Shaeri.
“The public response to the YouTube competition has been extremely positive and some true talents have been found,” said Amr Diab. “I can’t wait to share the stage with Wafaei and Mohanad during my upcoming concert. The whole process has been amazing from screening the first video entries to the mentoring stage, and I truly hope that participants will continue to nurture and grow their talent. ”
The top 10 finalists were chosen by the judging panel and submitted new entries. The top 5 were selected by Amr Diab himself, with the final winner(s) selected by the YouTube community in a final public vote.
“The Amr Diab Academy proves that the opportunities are endless with YouTube,” said Haisam Yehia, Strategic Partner Development Partner for YouTube in MENA “YouTube has made leaps and bounds since the original video-sharing platform was founded and users are finding unique ways to interact with their target audience. The Amr Diab Academy on YouTube is the first time such an initiative has been launched in the region. The positive feedback from the community highlights the public’s eagerness for more talent competitions and creativity.”
With more than 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute around the globe, YouTube continues to see explosive growth. The MENA region has the second highest viewership worldwide after the U.S. with more than 260 million views per day and more than two hours of uploaded content per minute.
About Amr Diab Academy
For more information visit http://www.youtube.com/user/amrdiab where the contest rules and details are featured.
About YouTube
YouTube is the world’s largest online video community, allowing millions of people to discover, watch, and share original videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original-content creators and advertisers large and small. YouTube, LLC, is based in San Bruno, California, and is a subsidiary of Google Inc.
About Google+
Google+ is a project that aims to make sharing on the web more like sharing in the real world: you share different things with different people. But Google+ is not just a social network; it will have an impact on how people interact across all of Google. By forming a relationship with users, knowing their identity and better understanding them, we can improve their entire Google experience – from search to ads to apps, like Gmail. This is just the beginning, and we’re excited to see how people interact and connect with others across all Google properties.
About Google Inc.
Google is a global technology leader focused on improving the ways people connect with information. Google’s innovations in web search and advertising have made its website a top Internet property and its brand one of the most recognized in the world.
Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
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