TAMIU Student Heads to ‘X-Factor’ Today

Marissa Mata, a junior criminal justice major at Texas A&M International University, has been named one of the four winners of “The X Factor” Laredo Competition, recently organized by FOX 39 and hosted by TAMIU.

The X Factor is an award-winning, international singing competition on FOX Network created and produced by Simon Cowell, former judge on “American Idol.”

As a winner, Mata will travel to Dallas Thursday, May 26 and audition before FOX Network producers for a chance to be heard by Cowell and other X Factor judges during the actual network show taping in June. If she is chosen as the finalist, she could win a $5 million recording contract and work with Cowell. More than 120 registered contestants participated in the Laredo competition.

“I’m extremely excited and feel honored to have been selected as a winner because not a lot of people get this opportunity,” Mata said, “I hope that I get to represent Laredo well and that I do my best in the auditions.”

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