(Clockwise from top) Winner of 93.5 Seconds to Fame Sudip Das receives the award, Sudip with first runner-up Akash, and second runner-up Jyothi and other finalists perform at the event. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 18: Talent was seen at its best at the finale of Red FM’s 93.5 Seconds to Fame reality show that concluded recently. The XIMB auditorium was full of young spectators when 12 talented finalists battled it out to claim the winning spot.

Strumming his guitar while humming songs in his sonorous voice, Bhubaneswar boy Sudip Das won the hearts of the audience as well as the talent hunt and Rs 50,000 prize money. Sudip was delighted on emerging the winner of the one-of-a-kind contest.

“The competition was really tough since all the finalists were equally good. I should say I am lucky to get this platform to showcase my talent in front of people from all over the state and win this title,” said Das, a software engineer. “This talent hunt has helped me by encouraging to dream big,” he said.

The auditions for this talent search were held in Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Balasore, Angul and Cuttack from June 13 to 25. Among the 12 finalists were six singers and six dancers.

“We had different categories for our participants to showcase their talent in singing, dancing, comedy and X-factor. Out of hundreds of applicants, top 60 were chosen for the quarter finals after several screenings,” said Arup Das, the station head of Red FM.

Out of the top 16 in semi-finals, 12 were chosen for the finale. Dancing sensation from Berhampur Akash Das emerged the first runner-up while melodious singer Jyothi Bothra claimed the second runner-up position.

Among other talents were members of the United Dancing Twisterz — a group of B-boying dancers who earned loud rounds of applause from the viewers — and the Sadhana choir that was formed of a group of male and female singers giving amazing performances on chorus songs.

The finalists were judged by eminent personalities such as musician Manmath Mishra and Odissi guru Bimbadhar Dash.

“Taking part in the talent show as a judge was a learning experience for me since I got a chance to see the immense creative potential that today’s Odia youngsters have in them. It was very tough to give better scores to one compared to other as all of them were unique and performed very well,” said Dash.