SOME of the participants of A-Academy, a talent search programme currently showing on local television, are disgruntled with the way the competition is being held.

Over the past two weeks participants have been submitting their complaints by telephone and fax, while others came to Standardplus offices in person.

They claim the project is a "shame and a disgrace seeking to suppress talent and destroy our nation...and must not go on".

However the producers, Gary Thompson and Associates (GTA), immediately dismissed the claims as "completely without merit and can only be dismissed with the contempt they deserve".

On 20 October Peter Cardinal Ncube, president of the Upcoming Talented Musicians Association of Bulawayo, wrote a letter to express their "disgust and disbelief with regard to the professionalism or lack of it" in A-Academy.

In the letter, Ncube said: "The producers have clearly proved themselves unworthy of the task they have been given, transparently showing high levels of favouritism and bias toward some of the competitors....

"The A-Academy's purpose has been advertised as the search for upcoming talent and not to promote the images of some of the already recorded competitors favoured by the judges... However, it seems only those connected to the judges were the ones shown, apart from the lucky chosen few."

The letter also claims that: "...Some better, new, upcoming talent has been suppressed" and that the show "has truly missed its mark as its intentions seem sinister and really must be investigated."

Ncube said the judges "displayed lack of skill and wisdom...as their focus often shifts to clothing, height and other issues that are not necessary as compared to vocal skill".

Responding to questions by Standardplus, GTA spo-kesperson Martin Makoni said: "The judges were chosen on merit and no one in the team has any right to interfere with their decisions. The show by its nature has had its highs and lows for some, with several contestants falling out of the running before they could realize their dream to become super celebrities. But that's the nature of competition, not everyone can be a winner.

"Whilst one might argue that the show has suppressed or ignored some young talent, the judges of the CBZ A-Academy had their set parameters for adjudication and if one didn't make the grade, there was no way they could proceed."

Makoni said the judges were "looking for good vocal talent, presence on the stage, ability to communicate with the audience, confidence, among others" and all their decisions were based on those attributes.

Two losing contestants came to our offices last Tuesday to express their displeasure with the programme. They said the programme risked destroying the talent it seeks to nurture, especially through some of the judges' negative comments.

They claimed that most of the artistes who qualified to the advanced stages had previously worked with some members of the judges' panel (names supplied) and go to the same church with the producers. They questioned the wisdom of including established artistes when the show seeks to identify raw talent.

Makoni dismissed all their claims as "sour grapes". On the fate of those contestants who failed to make it to the Top Five, Makoni said: "We have committed ourselves to reward (only) those making it into the top five. But should anybody who contested need assistance from us, we will be more than willing to help if it's something within our reach."