Sangeeta Tanwar
Media

STAR News embarks on STAR Anchor Hunt in 10 cities

STAR News will conduct the hunt in 10 cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Allahabad, Nagpur, Indore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Patna and Chandigarh

STAR News is on the lookout for potential anchor-journalists and to scout and spot the right talent, the Hindi news channel has launched a three month campaign titled STAR Anchor Hunt, spread across 10 cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Allahabad, Nagpur, Indore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Patna and Chandigarh.

Talking about the initiative, Neeraj Sanan, marketing head, MCCS, says, "The effort is geared towards guiding talented individuals to figure out the way to becoming a journalist. Sadly, youngsters with aspirations of making careers as presenters have little clue as to how to go about fulfilling their dreams. Also, the talent hunt aims to underline the fact that being an anchor is not an easy job – it's a serious profession. Genuine talent and sheer hard work is required to be a successful anchor."

STAR News embarks on STAR Anchor Hunt in 10 cities
To participate in the hunt, youngsters have to register their names at www.staranchorhunt.com. STAR News will conduct auditions across 10 cities and from each city, it will pick two prospective talents. During auditions, the channel will evaluate participants on the basis of their communication skills and knowledge about current affairs.

According to Sanan, an anchor acts as a change agent for the society and thus, to spot the right talent, STAR News has put across an interesting mix of judges including STAR News anchor Deepak Chaurasia, writer Chetan Bhagat and Bollywood actor Tisca Chopra.

STAR News embarks on STAR Anchor Hunt in 10 cities
As part of the team, Chaurasia has been entrusted with the responsibility of evaluating participants on their ability to grasp and communicate nuances of news as a subject. Bhagat has been brought on-board as a youth icon who could find an instant connect with participants and inspire them. Chopra has been roped in because she started her career as a presenter with STAR News and is anchoring a show called Superstar on the news channel. She will have valuable practical advice to share with participants on the do's and don'ts of being an anchor.

The news channel will finally select a boy and a girl as STAR Anchors, who will get an opportunity to work as anchor-presenters with the channel for six months and will be given lessons on diction, speech, news presentation and grooming by the channel. The winners also stand to win a Ford Figo car.

Other brands associated with STAR Anchor Hunt are Vaseline (presenting sponsor) and Ford Figo. Print support for the event comes through Amar Ujala; while Big FM has been roped in as radio partner.

Sanan also informs that the channel has picked up publications such as Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar to spread the word about the talent hunt. He concludes that the past two years have seen the emergence of six-seven news channels but most have failed to make a mark as anchors. So it's time that the industry addresses the talent crunch issue and look at spotting fresh names and faces to take Hindi journalism to new heights.

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