While a line stretched out the door and the seats of the auditorium filled quickly, the contestants waited backstage for their shot to compete in and become the next Whitman Idol.

Last Friday, Whitman began the long month of fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.

Whitman Idol consisted of 14 contestants who were hand-selected by the leadership committee, which also planned the competition. Junior Haley Hanford, who sung “American Boy” by Estelle, won the competition. Freshman Mackenzie Tucker was named runner-up for her performance of “Stupid Boy” by Keith Urban.

The auditions began after winter break and were held by four members of leadership who acted as the committee for Whitman Idol.

“We are trying to get the best talent and also people who will bring a lot of attention to the show because it’s a charity event,” director Mia Carmel said. “Auditions are tough though because they are two days and they are really long.”

Those auditioning performed a short preparation of a song. Once the list of contestants was narrowed down, participants prepared two songs—one slow and one fast. The committee then decided which of the two songs each contestant would perform.

“We want to create a diverse show, so we will choose half upbeat, half ballads,” producer Katie Sullivan said.

Hanford had a lot of trouble deciding what song to sing because of the requirements of the audition.

“It was a long process finding a song because I’m always indecisive when it comes to choosing songs. Mia [Carmel] actually recommended it and we spent countless hours trying to decide a song for me, but we finally chose [“American Boy”],” Hanford said.

After each contestant was assigned a song, they were on their own to practice over semester break, and then come to rehearsal when the semester began, Sullivan said.

Along with preparing for their own songs, the contestants had to prepare for the group song and practice the dance.

“We also choose the group song and make a dance that goes on at the beginning of the show,” Sullivan said. “Each of them has a little solo.”

After all the preparation, the night to perform came. Atop the stage sat three judges—music teacher Heather Borsom, chemistry teacher Peyton Ford, and English teacher Danielle Fus—who gave criticism and words of wisdom to the contestants after each performance.

“I’m really looking forward to insulting my students to their faces,” Fus said as the show began.

Once the performances ended, audience members could vote by tearing off pieces of the playbill and placing the makeshift ballots in black boxes labeled with each performer’s name. After a short intermission, Hanford was named the next Whitman Idol.

“I was surprised and happy,” Hanford said.

She had also performed in Whitman Idol last year, placing second.

Out of all of the performers, Hanford was awarded with the highest praise from all the judges.

“I really liked Haley, that’s why I gave her as much praise as I did. I thought it was a very innovative performance,” Fus said.

Fus also had praise for sophomore Norell Sherman, who sang “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, saying she went “unrecognized.”

“Massive props to our SGA for putting all this together, it’s a really great event,” Fus said. “It was really well organized and really well done.”

Video by Caitlin Sullivan