The PALM DJ Championships celebrated its 8th successful edition in 2018! Thousands of participants and aspiring, as well as established DJs thronged the venue – Hall 4 of the BEC, Mumbai, on 31st May and 1st June 2018, proving that the Championship has established itself as the premier platform for scouting DJ talent.

The Championship has played a crucial role in the growth of DJ Culture in India and is regarded as one of the most prestigious DJ Competitions held in the country. Since it first started in 2001, the championship has made waves and delivered many Champion DJs who have created a niche for themselves in this very competitive industry.

While Palm DJ championship 2017 introduced a DJing phenomenon - DJ Atom - Bass Boy, a 10-year-old wunderkind who won the 2017 title with his insane DJing skills, others like DJ Ashitosh (2016 1st Runner Up) qualified in DMC online world DJ championship 2017 and was placed 6th out of 29 participants, and DJ Atharva Sawant (2016 2nd runner up) participated in a remix competition held by Dutch record label - Spinning Records, which saw his track on number 7 in charts worldwide. Many other winners have since earned many gigs in clubs and big stage music festivals.

The DJ Championship 2018 process involved shortlisting contestants from online registrations received on the PALM expo website. A preview of the registrant’s previous work was taken into consideration while choosing contestants who got an opportunity to battle it out in the Qualification rounds that took place on 31st May – the first day of the PALM expo.

While the Championship drew in hundreds of registrations from all over the country, only 20 contestants got their 4 minutes of fame on the PALM DJ Championship stage, and three among the 20 went on the win the prestigious title - which took place on 1st June - the second day of the PALM expo.

Hailing from Mumbai, DJ Braden beat the odds to triumph over some of the strongest competition and come out on top, winning the coveted PALM DJ Championship title 2018. DJ Altrax from Surat, secured his spot in the top three winning the first-runner up position followed by DJ Shubham from Mumbai who came a close third.

The participants were provided a Pioneer CDJ2000NXS and DJM900NXS to showcase their talent. All contestants are expected to carry their own music (Vinyl, CDs and/or pen drives), Headphones, Slip Mats & Needles.

A minimum of three tracks were played by each of the contestants, which were judged by an esteemed panel of judges comprising of DJ Championship Director - DJ Reji Ravindran, DJ Ali Merchant and DJ KD. A maximum of 50 points were allotted for each Contestant on criteria that included, Track Selection, Technical Skills, Creativity, Confidence, Crowd Response.

DJ Reji, who has contributed a lot of energy to this talent hunt platform, adding significantly to its success, says, "The PALM DJ Championship of 2018 was a spectacular event & probably the best so far. All the winners were really skilled and put out their best to win the much coveted prizes by our esteemed sponsors. 2018 really did raise the bar of excellence in competence & performance for participants in the coming years. So I am stoked to see what's in store at the next edition of India's biggest DJ battle."

Confirming their visionary support to the industry were - Platinum Partners Denon DJ and Co Partners Antelope Audio. Financial support provided by the partners was a key element to the planning and logistics of the DJ Championship. Sound Partners – OHM, ensured optimum sound delivery at the Championship Venue.

PALM also hosted a FREE DJ workshop in conjunction with Platinum Partners – Denon DJ before the doors open at the qualifying rounds on Day 1. This workshop by Frank Hann - Product Specialist at Denon DJ, primarily focused on the Denon Prime DJ system and traced the journey of Denon DJ - from its roots. The session highlighted the core technology behind Denon Prime and wrapped up with an open Q&A round.

While the focus is on nurturing DJ talent in India, the Championship also lays a lot of importance on the prizes. The emphasis is also that the winners go home with top quality industry standard gear that will take their craft to the next level.

While, Premium Prize Partners – Reloop sponsored the Reloop Touch, Reloop BeatMix 4 and Reloop MixTour for the winner, first runner-up and second runner respectively, Akai sponsored the APC40MKII for the top three winners. Other prizes included MX DJ 1000 headphones by MX MDR for the top 10 finalists, a Roland DJ-99 for the title winner, who also got a paid club gig, courtesy - Ali Merchant. Numark sponsored the Numark PT01 Scratch for the, 4th, 5th 6th and 7th finalist, while Alesis sponsored the Q49 synth for the last three finalists from the top 10.

TSM, Mumbai in association with Point Blank Music school, UK sponsored the N1 Komplete 11 & Ableton Live for the winner, 4 hours private study with Point Blank DJ Instructor at TSM and 6 hours DJ room access for the first runner up and Access Pass for Point Blank certified Pro DJ workshop at TSM for the ten who reached the qualifying round but did not make it to the top 10.