Will SVG make it three in a row?

As the third installment of the Digicel Rising Star competition goes into gear, the focus is being set on St. Vincent and the Grenadines as the two-time winners of the tournament, to see if the third time would be the charm for this country.

The launching of this year’s tournament kicked off on Friday, June 15, at a press conference at the Discovery Bay Resort in St. Lucia with promises of great things in store for both viewers and competitors.{{more}}

Auditions for the finals are scheduled to begin in Barbados this weekend, with this country’s leg of the auditions to take place on August 28 and 29. The show will begin airing on television throughout the region on August 11, with the grand finale slated for November 4 in Barbados.

The Digicel Rising Star show will feature some familiar faces once again this year, with the return of host Barbadian TV presenter Belle Holder and judges Vynette ‘Vinnie V’ Fredrick of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antiguan Algernon ‘ Serpent’ Watt and Wayne ‘Cool’ Simmons of Barbados.

Executive Producer of the show Michael Hogan said that Digicel and key sponsor Sony Ericsson are looking at hosting a Pan Caribbean Rising Star competition in the near future, and announced that for the first time there will be a similar contest in Haiti.

Last Friday’s launching press conference was followed by a cocktail, which saw performances by the top three finalists, including this country’s very own 2006 winner Kyron Baptiste.

Baptiste performed a new song ‘Always On My Mind’ from his upcoming album.