ON the back of some 30,000 votes cast – comprising 20,000 via in-paper vouchers and 10,000 by text messaging – a talent showcase hosted by the Edinburgh Evening News last night attracted a sell-out crowd in the capital.
By the end, dancing group, the Haughey McAuley Irish Dance Academy, was to skip away with the top prize from the inaugural Edinburgh’s Got Talent show, taking place in the city’s Assembly Rooms, in front of an audience of 700.
The winner was chosen following a process that began with 150 videos of hopefuls being whittled down to 40, which was then cut to 20 and then, last week, to ten.
With the videos appearing on the paper’s website and the contestants being written about extensively in the paper, readers were able to vote for their favourite acts.
Last night, the ten shortlisted acts and the readers votes comprised 50 per cent of their score, the remainder coming from the judging panel which included Radio Forth presenter, Boogie.
It is understood that, already, plans are in place to repeat the exercise next year. The success of the show is believed to be largely down to the efforts of promotions executive at Scotsman HQ, Deborah Welsh.
