On Sunday, Nippon Broadcasting System held the finals of its "Dreamgirls Audition." The event was planned as part of the station's "All Night Nippon" program, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It kicked off last month in conjunction with the release of the "Dreamgirls" movie. Nippon Broadcasting System also collaborated with avex and XING (the company behind JOYSOUND karaoke) for the project.

The 575 applicants had to perform three songs to enter the audition: "Blue Bird" (Ayumi Hamasaki), "Jewel Song" (BoA), and "SMILY" (Ai Otsuka). In the last round, the 17 finalists had to sing a song of their choice and answer questions from the judges.

The winner of the audition was 15-year-old Hisayo Inamori, a third-year middle schooler from Kanagawa. In her profile, she listed Ringo Shiina's "Kabukicho no Joou" as her favorite song, but she chose to sing Bonnie Pink's "A Perfect Sky" for the contest.

Winning the contest will help Inamori attain her dream of becoming a singer. One of her rewards is that she will make her debut on avex's rhythm zone label, which is expected to happen next year. She is also scheduled to appear at a Nippon Broadcasting System event on April 9 at Shibuya AX.