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The Veronica Dunne Singing Competition has a first prize of €10,000 – but that might be just the beginning for the winner

PUT A WANNABE pop star in front of a jury, and you get The X Factor. Do the same with a wannabe opera singer, and you get something along the lines of the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition. At first glance, they don’t appear to have much in common. For one thing, anyone who enters an operatic singing competition can actually sing. For another, juries are discreet enough to keep the details of their deliberations to themselves – so there are no public savagings by Simon Cowell look-alikes. But for a young classical singer attempting to make a career in the cut-throat world of international opera, doing well in a competition can provide a whoosh up the ladder every bit as spectacular as the one which has made the Jedward twins into a household name in Ireland in recent months.