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After four days of listening to over 2000 demos collected nationwide, 227 contestants have been called to come and audition as the MTN Hitmaker competition gets closer to the screens. The 31 females and 196 males have converged at the National Association of Film Institute (NAFTI) to prove their worth to the judges. They will first sing without any instruments to see how good their voices are without the microphone. The number will then be reduced to 40 who will then be joined by the 12 contestants selected from the nationwide radio competition to sing on instruments. By the close of business on Friday, July 5th, the judges will be rounding up on who make up the final 12 contestants. Legendary sound engineer, Zapp Mallet who is one of the judges noted that it wasn�t easy listening to all these songs but they were able to select the grain from the chaff and they will continue to work hard to bring out the best among the best for the competition proper to begin. Ivan Quarshigah, Chief Executive Officer of Farmhouse Production, the producers of the show, said they were impressed with the high number of demos submitted. �This is an indication of the importance attached to the competition.� The MTN Hitmaker season two has a prize package of a recording and artiste management deal worth GH�100, 000.00 for the winner and GH�50, 000.00 for the first runner-up. The third and fourth-placed winners will also receive some handsome prizes. MTN Hitmaker will also reward the sound engineer with the Best Beat on the show and weekly prizes for Best Performer, Best Appearance, Highest �Texters� and more. Introduced last year, the show aims at identifying, grooming and supporting young aspiring artistes to record their own music and turning them into stars. The first season was a huge success and everyone saw the wonderful, transformed talents on television for several weeks before the final showdown at the Accra International Conference Centre where Shadrach Adjei alias Naterial beat Miriam, Chiki and Atimbilla to claim the first prize. Miriam placed second. Naterial and her have since recorded their debut albums titled Mamle and My Testimony respectively. The Hitmaker initiative is championed by MTN and supported by the MTN Ghana Foundation under the auspices of the Youth Empowerment Programme in partnership with the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA). This year, the contest is looking for the artistes who can �Move The Nation�.