Vocalists top 2023 CNMI’s Got Talent

Vocalists took home the big win in Bridge Capital LLC’s 13th Annual CNMI Got Talent held last Saturday night at the Kensington Hotel in San Roque.

Singers Jessel Antonio, 30, and Francis Peter, 10, won the first-place prizes within their category. The duo also secured a double win as they both nabbed the “Most Christmas” award resulting in them walking away with $3,000 each.

Antonio’s rendition of “O Holy Night” and Peter’s mashup medley of “Hallelujah” and “Auld Lang Syne” not only collected the loudest cheers of the evening, but also secured the highest points from the judges in the adult and 16-and-under divisions.

Antonio, who had done exceptionally well in several local contests since her arrival on Saipan, tearfully shared how much the win meant for her.

“I feel so grateful and I will thank God for this opportunity. This prize is for our kids and our family,” she said wiping away tears.

Peters shared his gratitude and said that he only hoped to spread the Christmas spirit and joy.

“I wanted to do it for the people and make them feel the vibe. I tried not to be nervous so I thought of everyone as my family and try to dance and groove to it. I feel so happy, but win or lose it was for fun.”

Both extended their gratitude to Bridge Capital.

In the 16-and-under category, second runner-up Juliana Kai Ortiz also won the Governor’s Choice Award. First runner-up were cousins Kayden Manglona and Kassidy Garcia, who also went on to win the Best of Rota award after the duo’s cover of “Walking in a Winter Wonderland.” There were no contestants for the Best of Tinian.

In the adult 17-and-up category, Heaven Murphy’s original composition and infused pop and rap song placed her as first runner-up and acapella group DYNMX placed second runner-up. DYNMX was also presented the Founder’s Choice Award.

While presenting the award to DYNMX, Bridge Capital CEO John Baldwin became emotional.

“They’ve performed for us when they were in Rhythm & Harmony, they performed for us as solo talents, they’ve done in groups… so we’ve known them for a long time. I do get emotional about it because we’ve watched them grow and now, they’re performing together again, when, normally when they graduate from college they don’t perform together anymore and so for me it’s a magical moment,” he said. “With giving them a platform to perform on for many years now and to see them come back together on their own…nobody organized them and they did it because they wanted to be together and I find that very touching.”

As for the show that night he remarked, “It never ceases to amaze me the amount of incredible talent that is available in the CNMI. Tonight’s show is the best ever… we’ve done this 13 times and tonight was absolutely amazing,” he said.

Baldwin also commended the organizers of the 13th Annual CNMI Got Talent and continued to welcome performances from Rota and Tinian.

“For us this is sort of an answer to a little prayer. We want them to come perform…and then to do such a spectacular job… we want to see more from Rota and Tinian…we want to give them the opportunity.”

Bridge Capital vice president Bart Jackson told the media that they had 320 in the room, a number greater than what they had initially expected.

“We had a great event and we had great performers. We had a great crowd I had a great response and interaction between performers and the crowd. One of the judges was telling me how emotional she got when watching certain performances. So, it brings great satisfaction in doing what we do the right way. “