Live performance with lucky fans

As one of the Arab world’s most prolific singers, Amr Diab is also one of the most private. Yet the singer decided to engage with his fans through a YouTube competition that ended with a male and female winner from Morocco and Egypt. The winners, Moroccan Wafaei Chikki and Egyptian Mohanad Zoheir will sing live on stage with the pop legend at one of his upcoming concerts.

The competition was created as part of the Amr Diab YouTube Academy. Amr Diab created the academy to reach his fans through the internet. His YouTube channel currently has over 156,000 subscribers and over 63m video views.

The final 30 contestants were selected based on voting by the public and received workshops via Google+ with the jury. The panelists included notable music industry veterans such as composer/singer Hamid El-Shaery. After the top 30 were whittled down to 10 by the jury, Amr Diab selected the best five. Chikki and Zoheir were chosen as the winners by YouTube users in a public vote on Amr Diab’s channel.  Link to full article

Winners of the Amr Diab YouTube Academy

DUBAI – 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 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.

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