Golden Stag trophy goes to Inis Neziri of Albania

The EUR 25k trophy of the Golden Stag International Festival was won by Inis Neziri of Albania, and it was handed by Luminita Dobrescu, the first singer of Romania who grabbed this trophy back in 1969, at the second edition of the festival.

The 1st Prize of the contest was won by Olivier Kaye (Belgium) and was handed by Gabriel Garko, a special guest of the festival.

Antonia Gigovska (Macedonia) snatched the 2nd Prize and Gigliola Cinquetti, a member of the jury, handed it to her.

Kelly Joyce (France) was the winner of the 3rd Prize of the Golden Stag International Festival 2018. The prize was handed by Kristina Cepraga Goodwin, another member of the jury.

Ryan O'Shaughnessy (Ireland) was awarded the Prize of Brasov Municipality from the hands of the City Mayor George Scripcaru.

Damiano Borgi (Italy) won the Brasov County Council's Prize handed by Adrian-Ioan Bestea, President of CJB.

Raluca Blejusca (Romania) grabbed the Best performance of a Romanian song Prize of the Golden Stag 2018. The award was handed by Madalin Voicu, member of the jury and secretary of state with the Culture Ministry.

The journalists present at this year's edition of the Golden Stag voted Ovidiu Anton (Romania) for the Press Award winner, a prize he received from the hands of Smaranda Vornicu-Shalit, the festival's managing director.

Olivier Kaye (Belgium) was best voted by the public and therefore he received The Public Prize at the Golden Stag 2018, being handed by Arsenium.

The Prize of the Romanian Television Society (SRTV) and the Romanian Radio Broadcaster was granted to Lidia Isac (Republic of Moldova) and handed by Doina Gradea, President - Managing Director of the SRTV, and Ionel Tudor, conductor of the Romanian Broadcaster's Big Band.

18 contesters from 15 countries competed in the Golden Stag 2018 International Festival: Inis Neziri (Albania), Amaliya Margaryan (Armenia), Kaye Olivier Fabian C (Belgium), John Karayiannis (Cyprus), Kelly-Joyce Bale (France), Ryan O'Shaughnessy (Irelanda, Omer Netzer (Israel), Damiano Borgi (Italy), Tiziana Camelin (Italy), Dinara Kairova (Kazakhstan), Antonia Gigovska (Macedonia), Karl William Lund (United Kingdom), Lidia Isac (Republic of Moldova), Dora Gaitanovici (Romania), Ovidiu Anton (Romania), Raluca Blejusca (Romania), Sebastian Schmidt (San Marino), Jorge Gonzalez (Spain).

This year's edition, the jury was made of: Edvin Marton of Hungary, Gigliola Cinquetti, Kristina Cepraga Goodwin and Luminita Dobrescu of Italy, Eleni Foureira of Greece, Arsenie Toderas of the Republic of Moldova and Madalin Voicu (Romania).

Outstanding recitals were performed at the Golden Stag festival's gala night by Nicole Scherzinger, Edvin Marton, Eleni Foureira, The Motans, Carla's Dreams. Nicole Scherzinger has practically raised the audience on their feet with her solo hits and the other songs interpreted alongside Pussycat Dolls.AGERPRES(RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Marius Fratila; EN - author, editor: Maria Voican)