China's biggest talent show - Voice of China - is hunting for contestants in California for its third season.

According to organizer EDI Inc, the Voice of China Season 3 North America Audition has already received thousands of applicants. Selected candidates will attend a preliminary audition at Orlando KTV in West Covina on Saturday. Candidates making the cut there will go on to a final competition on June 3 at Baldwin Park Art Performing Center and winners there will be headed to China for the big competition later this year.

Last year, six contestants from the North American region were selected by judges to sing at Voice of China at ZJTV in China, though none of them were able to win. "We hope our candidates can win the competition in China this year," James Su, CEO and chairman of EDI, told China Daily.

Peter Rafelson, former producer of Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Elton John, Madonna and Britney Spears, sent his best wishes through a video that screened at the press conference on Wednesday. He said he hoped the Voice of China North America Audition would find the best Chinese singer in the US and Canada.

Judges for the final audition on June 3 will include Qing Dong, well known Chinese hosts of CCTV's New Year's Gala, which has the largest audience of any entertainment show in the world, Travis Payne, choreographer for Michael Jackson's This Is It, Nathan Wang, Chinese composer in Hollywood and two-time Emmy Award winner, Yingjiu Duan, president of JT Media, whose company has made several grassroots singers like Wenjie Shang and Jie He into international super stars, and Yi Huang and Da Shan, winners of Voice of China's previous two seasons.

Considered the American Idol of China, Voice of China was created by ZJTV, the TV station of Zhejiang province, and is now the biggest Chinese singing talent show in the country, reaching the largest audience in China's contemporary music industry.

cindyliu@chinadaily.com.cn