IU Hillel conducted their in-person auditions on a first-come, first-serve basis for their 18th annual Campus Superstar 12-5 p.m. Sunday at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.
Campus Superstar is a singing competition open to Indiana college students all over the state. The only requirements for participants is to be enrolled as a full-time college student and be fully vaccinated.
The competition provides its winner with a $5000 cash prize, as well as cash prizes for the rest of the top 5 contestants.
“If you think you can sing and are interested in competing in the competition you can,” Lance daSilva, co-producer of Campus Superstar, said.
This competition, originally inspired by American Idol, is done in three rounds. The first round is an open audition, which occurred in person Sunday and will continue online until Jan. 31. There will be a semi-final show on March 4 in Franklin Hall, and a final showcase on April 10 in Indianapolis.
“There were a lot of different Hillels across the country that were also doing it,” daSilva said. “We use the show as a way to engage our donors and by engaging our donors we are able to put on a big community event and engage students.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers added a virtual audition option for the first round of auditions beginning last year. daSilva said before the organizers added this option, the audition process was a lot more involved, as auditions were hosted on campuses of other Indiana schools, not just at IU-Bloomington.
Despite IU Bloomington hosting many of the main components of this competition, daSilva said more than half of the top ten contestants last year were not from IU.
This event serves as a primary fundraiser to fund IU Hillel for the next year Sue said. IU Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sue said this event’s sponsors allow them to put on the event and provide the cash prizes.
“It really helps us fund our organization throughout the year mostly for our student programming and things like our free Shabbat dinners for everybody on campus,” Sue said, “Basically, all of our events are free to students, so it helps us to be able to put on the free events that we put on and do diversity and education and programming that we do on campus.”
Contestants will not only have the chance to win the cash prize, but they also have the chance to work with coaches to gain professional development. daSilva said this contest is a great way to create friendships, as the top ten contestants will work together on a group number.
Campus Superstar also provides opportunities for students to get involved in marketing, videography and more. daSilva said he is looking to put together a student team to work in roles such as student producer or student director.
Students can still submit auditions virtually until Jan. 31 on the IU Hillel website.
