Dancer Dumbo will train 12 finalists.

HCM CITY  (VNS) — The singing contest Ngoi Sao Phuong Nam (Southern Star) has chosen 12 singers among 12,000 candidates who took part in the final round, according to Vinh Long Television and Kmedia, the host of the event.

The 12 finalists will be trained by Vietnamese-American dancer Dumbo, a member of the Poreotics dance crew, which won America's Best Dance Crew contest in 2010. The group has taken part in shows with Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and Usher.

Musician Do Hieu, who was nominated as a favourite composer in the HTV Awards competition earlier this year, is music director of the competition.

The final round will include seven shows featuring different genres of music.

The judges include female singer Siu Black and male singer Dan Truong, and an alternating judge.

Open to all Vietnamese from aged 15, the competition's audition round, which was held in May in Can Tho and HCM City, selected a total of 48 contestants.

Of the 48, 16 singers were selected among 4,000 competitors in Can Tho, and 32 from 8,000 candidates in HCM City.

The grand winner will receive VND200 million (US$1,000) in prize money and a VND100 million gift.

The programme airs on Vinh Long TV channel THVL1 every Friday. Its first broadcast was on June 19. — VNS