Lebanon celebrates as Tripoli girl wins The Voice Kids

The northern Lebanese city of Tripoli and its port town El Mina celebrated a rare good news on Saturday night when local girl Lynn al-Hayek won the first season of The Voice Kids Middle East (MBC).

Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of people celebrating in the streets of the city as the results were announced on television.

12-year-old Lynn won the kids' reality talent show, beating in the finale that aired live from Beirut Mirna Hanna (Iraq), Ghady Bechara (Lebanon), Zein Obied (Syria), Jowayriya Hamdy (Egypt) and Amir Amuri (Syria).

The Arab edition of the popular Western show had several celebrity judges and coaches from the Arab world, including Iraq's Kazim al-Saher, Egypt's Tamer Hosny and Lebanese pop star Nancy Ajram.

The contestants, most of whom had little to no training, were praised for their vocal talents.

Hayek will receive a scholarship worth 250,000 Saudi riyals and the opportunity to record a single that will be produced by Platinum Records, according to The National.

The rest of the finalists received 10,000 riyals each, and every child who auditioned for the show – even those who were not chosen – went home with 5,000 riyals.
Lebanese social media celebrating the victory, made possible by heavy voting via SMS, did not forget to quip that Lynn was the first Lebanese to be elected since 2009.

The country has been without a president since 2014 and its pariament has twice-renewed its own term without elections.