13th December 2002

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Final year PhD student, Leona Lees, will be swapping her lab coat for her glad rags this weekend as she sings for a chance to become Ireland’s Eurovision entry.

Leona, who is studying Health Care Geography at Coleraine, was chosen as one of eight finalists from the Derry heat of You’re a Star. The RTE programme follows judges Phil Coulter, Louis Walsh and Kerry Katona around Ireland on their hunt for this year’s Eurovision act.

Thousands of hopefuls have been auditioning over the past few months at venues throughout the country and it will be weeded down to just twelve finalists who will compete for a chance to win a recording contract and a place in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia.

The 24-year-old Magherafelt student is looking forward to the challenge: “As you can imagine I’m rather excited to have been chosen out of 500 people at the Derry auditions. It’s been a long wait from the day of the first audition until now so I’m looking forward to finding out whether or not I will be able to impress the public enough to make them vote for me,” she said.

“All my friends and colleagues in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences have been very supportive and encouraging, hopefully their confidence in me will be shared by the rest of the viewing public out there.

“I have always loved singing and it would be fantastic to get an opportunity go fo further in the competition.”

You’re a Star will be aired on Sunday December 15th at 6.30pm on RTE 1. The public will then be asked to vote for their favorite contestant by phone or text and the results will be revealed in a live programme at 9.20pm.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk