Gurgaon, Aug 27 (IANS): Life insurance company Max Life Insurance, in association with Universal Music Group, Wednesday announced the launch of i-genius Young Singing Stars that aims to recognise, reward and nurture young singing talent in India.

The i-genius programme was launched in 2010, and the i-genius Young Authors Hunt was added last year. It culminated in a book of stories of top 50 young authors. And now, i-genius Young Singing Stars has been launched.

Popular musicians Salim Merchant and Shraddha Sharma have been roped in as the brand ambassadors and jury for the programme.

“Our dearest artist friends Salim and Shraddha are working with us at nurturing and mentoring some of the finest future talent that will be the eventual yield of the i-Genius Young Singing Stars programme,” Devraj Sanyal, managing director, Universal Music Group, said in a statement.

The participation for the talent hunt is open to all children from 8 to 15 years of age in two categories: i-genius Junior - 8 - 11 years and i-genius Senior - 12-15 years.

After digital auditions, 20 selected kids will receive mentoring from the brand ambassadors.

Then the children will perform at a grand finale event where one winner will be selected from each group and will win an album recording contract with Universal Music Group. As many as four finalists from each group will win a contract for a single song.

The i-genius Scholarship also culminated Wednesday with the 1,000 winners being rewarded at the i-genius Scholarship grand finale at an event here. It aims to recognise and reward children who excel in academics and extracurricular activities.

Scholarships around Rs.50 Lakh were announced. A total of 100 Scholarships and 900 merit certificates were given away in two categories - i-genius Juniors (Classes 3 to 5) and i-genius Seniors (Classes 6 to 8).