YouTube announces winners for best male and female voice for Amr Diab Academy

The Amr Diab YouTube Academy was created as part of Amr Diab's efforts to engage more with fans using the power of the Internet to reach his fans worldwide. His YouTube channel is one of the most popular across the Middle East and North Africa.

The Academy allowed the YouTube users from anywhere around the world to enter the talent competition.

Nearly 100,000 votes were cast throughout the various phases of the entire campaign which kicked off in June last year when 1000 users entered the competition.

The top 30 contestants were selected based on the top votes and moved to the mentoring phase of the competition where they received guidance regarding their performance via Google+ hangout workshops with the Amr Diab Academy judging panel, comprised of several iconic celebrity music producers and industry veterans such as Hamid El-Shaeri.

"The public response to the YouTube competition has been extremely positive and some true talents have been found," said Amr Diab. "I can't wait to share the stage with Wafaei and Mohanad during my upcoming concert. The whole process has been amazing from screening the first video entries to the mentoring stage, and I truly hope that participants will continue to nurture and grow their talent," he added.

The top 10 finalists were chosen by the judging panel and submitted new entries. The top 5 were selected by Amr Diab himself, with the final winner(s) selected by the YouTube community in a final public vote.

"The Amr Diab Academy proves that the opportunities are endless with YouTube," said Haisam Yehia, Strategic Partner Development Partner for YouTube in MENA.

"YouTube has made leaps and bounds since the original video-sharing platform was founded and users are finding unique ways to interact with their target audience. The Amr Diab Academy on YouTube is the first time such an initiative has been launched in the region. The positive feedback from the community highlights the public's eagerness for more talent competitions and creativity," he added.

With more than 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute around the globe, YouTube continues to see explosive growth. The MENA region has the second highest viewership worldwide after the U.S. with more than 260 million views per day and more than two hours of uploaded content per minute.