Five contestants will be singing their hearts out in a bid to be the champion of Akademi Fantasia 8

The stage is set and the contestants are more than ready for the battle. Finalists of Akademi Fantasia 8 (AF8) will be performing and contesting in their final concert tomorrow night at Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, and fans are feverishly waiting for the outcome.

Who will win? The finalists (from left) Shahir, Iwan, Maulana, Daus and Adira.

For the past 10 weeks, the students, under the tutelage of principal Norman Abdul Halim and other academy trainers - Adnan Abu Hassan, Siti Hajar, Linda Jasmine Hashim, Fatimah Abu Bakar and Que Haidar - have been learning all the skills needed to be a good entertainer. Hence, there should be no excuse for shoddy performances tomorrow night.

The five lucky finalists will each be singing two songs, one of which had been especially written for them.

The contending five - Muhd Shahril Firdaus Eli (Daus), 22; Emirza Azwan Zulazrin Chew (Iwan), 20; Muhd Firdaus Maulana Mohamed (Maulana), 22; Siti Adira Suhaimi (Adira), 19; and Ahmad Shahir Zawawi (Shahir), 22 - have an equal chance to emerge as the AF8 champion.

In the eighth week of the show, Astro sprang a surprise by announcing that the public can pick one student from the dropout list to join the four finalists in the final. And Shahir, who was eliminated during the seventh concert, was voted back into the show.

He seems to be the crowd favourite as well. His ability to perform different genres has won him a steady stream of supporters.

Shahrir didn't disappoint his fans by performing his best in the rendition of Tak Mungkin Berpaling and Tamaly Maak in the ninth concert last Saturday, which catapulted him to the top spot with the most votes received.

At press time, Shahir was leading the pack with 31.58% votes, followed by Adira (14.62%), Daus (14.28%), Iwan (13.30%) and Maulana (13.28%).

Jimmy Shanley and Sarimah Ibrahim will co-host the Konsert Akhir Akademi Fantasia 8 tomorrow.
With SMS voters having the power to decide who will be the winner for AF8, the result is highly unpredictable. Bear in mind that the percentage of votes received by these students keep changing up until the final tomorrow.

Konsert Akhir Akademi Fantasia 8, co-hosted by Sarimah Ibrahim and Jimmy Shanley, will be aired live on Astro Ria (channel 104) at 9pm tomorrow. It is also available on High Definition on AFHD (Astro channel 124).