YOUNG musicians from the region are gearing up to perform in an innovative school and college audition tour.

Singers, dancers, bands and musicians from County Durham, Teesside and Tyne and Wear, are putting the finishing touches to their performances ready for talentSTAR 2004, which starts on October 20 and runs until the end of June next year.

The tour, organised by Genius Entertainment, of Durham, is travelling to more than 40 North-East schools and colleges and will see more than 20,000 people.

The tour follows the success of a pilot event earlier this year when 20 schools took part.

Adam Chetter, head of development at talentSTAR, said: "So much was achieved on the first tour and so many performers took so much away from appearing on the tour, that the demand has been there for its return."

The tour begins at South Moor Comprehensive School, Sunderland, on Monday, October 20.

The winner will have a website, a photo shoot at David Lawson's Crown Photography in Sunderland, work with producers at Oblivion Studios, Stockton, and will have a demo track put on a compilation CD and sent to 450 record labels.

Singer-songwriter Biba Christie, of Woodham Community Technology College, in Newton Aycliffe, won the first talentSTAR tour and had her debut song, Wait For You, played to more than one million listeners on BBC Radio Five's Drivetime programme.

The tour has support from the Prince's Trust and the Arts Council North East.

It has also landed a sponsorship deal with backing track company SingToTheWorld.com