Avon Voices

Avon Voices was an international online competition that ran for nearly a year, from late 2010 to late 2011. It had two tracks: a singing contest for women and a songwriting contest open to both men and women. Participants came from 62 countries and communicated in 37 languages. More than 10,000 entries were submitted, and 178 singers traveled to 20 live or staged events around the world.

The contest ended on November 2, 2011, when two singing winners and two winning songs were chosen. The judging panel included artists such as Fergie, Diane Warren, Delta Goodrem, and Natasha Bedingfield. The winners—Selena Gittens from Canada and Evelina Anusauskaite from Lithuania—were announced at the Avon Foundation for Women Gala in New York City, which was streamed live. The winning songs, “Step Up” and “We All Fall Down,” debuted at the same event, along with an original anthem written by Diane Warren called “Be What You Believe.”

Avon Voices is considered the largest global online singing competition ever, with 178 women flown over a million miles to six major cities. More than 2.5 million votes were cast online, and the competition’s website was the first to support 37 languages simultaneously, drawing visitors from over 213 countries. After the winners were announced, Avon stated that the two singers would record an album to be sold through Avon channels, with a portion of proceeds from the anthem going to the Avon Foundation. As of the source’s publication, that album had not yet been released.