Hallelujah! BET Takes the Road to 'Sunday Best' and Names 20 Contestants

NEW YORK, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- BET's new gospel singing competition show, SUNDAY BEST is on its way to finding the next great gospel singing sensation. During the premiere episode on Tuesday, October 2 a variety of entertaining hopefuls came out in droves to earn their spot in the competition, but in the end only an elite group of twenty was selected to continue on the road to SUNDAY BEST.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071003/NEW061 )

Hosted by gospel great Kirk Franklin, the nationwide search SCOURED the country's storefront churches, parishes and mega-churches to find the best undiscovered singers in America. Mentored by seasoned artists from the gospel world and judged by Grammy Award-winning gospel superstars BeBe Winans and dynamic singing siblings Erica and Tina Campbell that make up the dynamic duo, Mary Mary, the top five finalists will be offered the chance to take their praise to the next level and earn the title of SUNDAY BEST. The winner will receive a recording contract, a 2008 Toyota Camry and a $300,000 Tide "Loads of Hope" prize package to support the winner's community. Here are the top 20:

Charisma Sweat - Chicago, Illinois Christal Garrick - Houston, Texas Corey Webb - Marietta, Georgia Crystal Aikin - Tacoma, Washington Daniel Parra - San Diego, California Deanna Dixon - Indianapolis, Indiana Emily Gomez - American Falls, Idaho Janice Collins - Altadena, California Jermaine Sellers - Joliet, Illinois Juannell Johnson - Chicago, Illinois Kenya Glover - Chicago, Illinois Lawrence Williams - Jacksonville, Florida Melody Betts - Chicago, Illinois Queensley Felix - Houston, Texas Saudia Mills - Warren, Ohio Shari Addison - Chicago, Illinois Tamara Thomas - Huntsville, Alabama Tasha Collins - Chicago, Illinois Trevon Davis - Flint, Michigan Yvonne Cobbs-Bey - Pinole, California

Viewers can watch encore broadcasts of SUNDAY BEST on Fridays at 10pm ET/PT and Sundays at 11am and 8pm ET/PT.

For up-to-the-minute and archival press information including releases and photographs, visit BET's press-only Web site at http://www.bet.com/pr.

ABOUT BET:

BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. , is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 85 million households according to Nielsen Media Research, and can be seen in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of businesses extensions: BET.com, a leading internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET Digital Networks - BET J, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Mobile, a service venture into the lucrative world of ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, an extension of BET network programming for global distribution.