REIGNING Akademi Fantasia Season Five (AF5) champion Norsyarmilla (Mila) Jirin emerged a winner at the Discovery International Pop Music Festival held in Varna, Bulgaria.

Mila, the first female winner of Astro’s popular reality talent show, bagged the festival’s Best Song prize. She performed Ilham Di Matamu, composed by Ajai, at the annual music festival held on May 17. She also won a Special Jury Award.

Mila, from Penang, is the first Malaysian to participate in the 16-year-old music festival. Besides Malaysia, the festival saw participation from 11 other countries — Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Spain, Uzbekistan, Russia and Malta.

Maltese singer Fiona Cauchi won second prize in the Best Song category while Alberto Caccia of Italy was third.

Caccia won the Best Singer category with Bulgarian Petya Nikolova as runner-up. Romanian Simona Nae and Moldovan Ionel Istrati both won the third prize.
Fifteen contestants participated in the festival held at Varna Opera House.

“It was my first trip abroad for an international song festival and I was so proud to represent my country,” Mila said, in Kuala Lumpur prior to her trip. “It’s not just about singing, but also performing. I also had to dance a little, to score marks.”