It was a shining moment for six-year-old Akira Vane Sapla, winner of this year’s ‘SM’s Little Star’ held at the Music Hall of the SM Mall of Asia.

Akira, who represents SM City Manila, performed ‘Dakilang Extra’ during the event’s talent portion. And from the looks of it, she’s on the road to fulfilling her ambition to be a drama actress just like her idol, Judy Ann Santos.

‘I joined the SM Little Star contest to gain confidence and to develop my talents,’ says Akira, who loves her Barbie dolls and books.

As the grand prize winner, Akira brought home P100,000 in prize money, as well as birthday packages from the Nido Fortified Science Discover Center, scholarships from the SM Bowling Center and the Center for Pop Children’s, a day of unlimited skating at the SM Ice Skating Rink, as well as gift certificates from Toy Kingdom and Storyland.

Judges Aiza Marquez, Angeli Pangilinan-Valenciano, and Top Suzara clearly had a hard time choosing from the finalists. Criteria for judging included 40% for talent, 30% for Personality, and 30% for Star Quality.

Other SM Little Star winners were first runner-up Johnny Regana of SM City Cagayan de Oro, second runner-up Nicole Morgan of SM City Baguio, third runner-up Lexus Libres of SM City Bicutan, and fourth runner-up Kenet Africano of SM City Pampanga. Kenet also received the Cherifer Tangkad Sagad Special Award.

The event was also graced by the SM Little Star winners from SM malls in China. SM Xiamen’s Chen Dany and Guo Ziqi, SM Jinjiang’s Lin Jun and Zhuang Jingjing, and SM Chengdu’s Hu Benjamin Junzhe and Zhang Xinyue charmed the audience with their talent.

The SM Little Star Pageant is an annual contest of the SM Supermalls. Its major sponsors are Star Cinema, Cherifer, Johnson’s Pure Essentials and the SM Department Store. Other sponsors include Ped Zinc Plus, Center for Pop, Lil’ Bobson, Bella Belle Petit, Beverly Hills Polo Club, Freego, F’g DNM, the Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center, SM Storyland, SM Bowling Center and SM Ice Skating Rink.