Meet the Spark Open Audition winner
Niamh Crooks has been voted by Aotearoa as the winner of the Spark Open Audition.
Last Thursday, Niamh performed live on ZM alongside the two other Spark Open Audition finalists, Gibson Harris (Gibz) and Noah Seuseu. Her original song "Devotion" secured her the top spot.
As the winner of Spark Open Audition, Niamh will receive $10,000 worth of prizes to support her music career. This includes a Rockshop prize pack and studio time at BIG FAN, where she can further refine her sound with the guidance of mentors dedicated to helping aspiring musicians.
The finalists
Gibson Harris
Gibson (known as Gibz) is an up-and-coming singer-songwriter, rapper, multi-instrumentalist and music producer. He’s been pursuing his passion for music for the last 14 years. Gibz is passionate about helping at-risk youth get on the right track in life through music and has a goal to build a platform for himself that is big enough to be able to open doors for others.
Watch Gibson's audition
Niamh Crooks
Niamh’s world revolves around music, a passion she’s been pursuing ever since she could talk. She loves writing lyrics and melodies which she sees as a main source of expression. To help make her dream a reality, she recently moved from Dunedin to Christchurch to enrol in the SOLE Music Academy’s artist development programme. Her first five songs were self-produced between the ages of 13 and 15 years old.
Watch Niamh's audition
Noah Seuseu
Noah is one of 12 children who grew up in South Auckland. He loves the ability music has, to offer joy, fulfilment, healing and closure to those who connect with it. He discovered his love for music in church drawing musical inspiration from Southern gospel. His goal is to make music his main source of income, to travel the world, work alongside his fellow artists and take his music to the highest level possible.
Watch Noah's audition
Noema Te Hau III
Noema is an award-winning Auckland based producer, songwriter and live musical director for a multitude of NZ Artists that include the likes of Paige, Alayna, MOHI, Coast Arcade, Ratbag, and NEVERKNOWN.
Find Noema on Instagram
Emily Wheatcroft-Snape
Emily Wheatcroft-Snape is an audio engineer and producer with five years of industry experience. Recent artists Emily has worked with include Fazerdaze, Tiny Ruins, Te Kaahu, Louisa Nicklin, HINA, Arli Liberman, and Karl Steven.
Find Emily on Instagram
Edward Liu
At age 26, Auckland-based producer and mix engineer EDY holds a strong presence in the NZ music scene, credited for countless works with both local and international artists such as HALES, Sam V, Kennyon Brown and Tomorrow People to name a few.
Find EDY on InstagramImportant things to know
By participating in the Spark Open Audition competition advertised by Spark on its TikTok channel (the Competition), you accept and agree to the following terms and conditions below.
Entry requirements
Eligibility
The Open Audition competition is open to residents of New Zealand who are 18 years of age or older at the time of entry.
Entry Submission
To enter the competition, an Eligible Participant must Duet our pinned Duet video on TikTok featuring JessB's song "Moment" (Duet) and be posted on TikTok with the tag #SparkOpenAudition.
The Duet must be submitted by a solo performer, created on TikTok using TikTok’s ‘Duet’ functionality, and feature JessB's song along with showcasing the performer’s musical talent and artistic flair in the performance (entry).
One Entry per person is permitted.
Submission Period
The competition submission period will begin on 7 October 2023 12:01am and end on 18 October 2023 11:59pm. All entries must be submitted during this period and must remain on the Participant’s TikTok grid until midnight on 26th November 2023.
Selection of artists and mentorship
Selection of Top 3 Entries
After the submission period, Spark will, in consultation with Big Fan, review all eligible entries and select (at Spark’s sole discretion) the top three entries. This will be based on creativity, talent, artistic flair, adherence to the competition guidelines, and the extent to which Spark and Big Fan believe the participant will benefit from the mentorship (Mentees). The top three entries will be announced via radio, Spark webpage and Spark social pages on Friday 3 November.
We aim to work with emerging songwriters genuinely seeking growth and will consider factors including the participant’s existing work and potential for collaboration.
One-on-One Mentorship and Radio Performance
The top three selected entrants will each be awarded a half day of one-on-one mentorship with Big Fan producers.
They will also perform their music on a radio show arranged by Spark NZ that will air on 23 November 2023 .
Voting and selecting a winner
Public Voting
The general public will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite among the three mentees.
Spark NZ will open a public voting period from the date of the finalist announcement (3 November) until the 27 November. There will also be a Text To Vote voting mechanism through ZM, which will run from 23 to 27 November.
Winner selection process
The Spark Open Audition Winner will be selected by public vote. To vote, you can either:
Vote Online: complete the online form on spark.co.nz/hellotomorrow giving your first name, last name, email address and to cast your vote for one finalist from the final three finalists. The online voting will be open from Friday 3 November to 5pm Monday 27 November ;
ZM Text Vote: send a text message to NZME’s Text to Vote mechanism after the live show on ZM on Thursday 23 November, this will be open until 5pm Monday 27 November. Text to Vote costs 20 cents per message.
Spark will accept one vote per person on each voting platform, any additional votes received from the same person on a voting platform will be disregarded.
Prize for the Winning Mentee
The entrant with the highest number of public votes across both radio and spark.co.nz voting platforms will be declared the winning mentee. The winning mentee will receive $10,000 worth of prize packs as their reward for winning the competition.
Prize Distribution
The $10,000 worth of prizes will be awarded to the winning mentee through a method determined by Spark NZ, such as gift certificates to Rockshop and studio time at Big Fan, and will be delivered within 10 days of the winner's announcement.
Winner Announcement
The winner of the Spark NZ Open Audition competition will be announced on Tuesday 28 November, following the conclusion of the public voting period.
General information
Ownership of JessB's Song
Participants acknowledge and agree that they have no rights, licence or ownership in relation to JessB's song "Moment" used in their Entry. “Moment” is the property of its respective copyright holder, and Participants are granted limited rights to use it solely for the purpose of this competition and only on TikTok.
You can find the lyrics to "Moment" by JessB on Genius. Read the full "Moment" lyrics
Promotion and Marketing
By participating in this competition, entrants grant Spark NZ the right to use their TikTok duet videos and any copyrights created therein, names, and likenesses for promotional and marketing purposes related to the competition.
Entrants who send content to Spark NZ for the purposes of this competition are granting Spark NZ the right to use said content, and the names, and likenesses of those featured therein for promotional and marketing purposes related to the competition.
General
All entrants must adhere to TikTok's terms of service and community guidelines when creating and submitting their duet videos.
Spark NZ reserves the right to disqualify any entrant who violates the competition rules or engages in any fraudulent or inappropriate behavior. Spark NZ's decisions regarding the competition, including the selection of the top three entries and the winning mentee, are final and binding.
This competition is subject to all applicable laws and regulations.
Spark Contact Information
For any questions or inquiries related to the Spark Open Audition competition, please contact sparkmusic@spark.co.nz
Spark will only contact you about this competition through its official TikTok account (@Spark_NZ) and using the email address sparkmusic@spark.co.nz. Spark will never contact you on any platform asking you to provide passwords or account details or send you links to click on. If you receive any messages about this competition and question their legitimacy, please email us on sparkmusic@spark.co.nz.
Vote and be in to win a $100 Prezzy card
Online voting Prezzy card draw
The online voting Prezzy card draw will be open from Friday 3 November to Monday 27 November 5pm.
Anyone who completes the full entry form and votes on spark.co.nz/hellotomorrow between 9am on Friday 3 November and 5pm on Monday 27 November will go into a prize draw to win one of ten $100 Prezzy cards.
Winners will be drawn at random from all correctly completed entries and will be contacted via email from 28 November to 30 November.