Tawag ng Tanghalan: The School Showdown

Tawag ng Tanghalan: The School Showdown is an amateur singing competition that currently airs as a segment of the noontime show It's Showtime that premiered on April 22, 2024.

Development
Initially promoted as Tawag ng Tanghalan: Ikawalong Taon, little information about this season was released until the finale of the second season of Tawag ng Tanghalan Kids, which was held two days before the season began, when the hosts teased about the new season.

Auditions
Auditions for The School Showdown were held starting February 2024. Contestants must be at least 14 years old and enrolled in any school or university in the Philippines.

Production
The School Showdown premiered on April 22, 2024, just two days after the finale of Kids 2. This is the third special season and the fourth overall season to air on GTV after Duets, Year 7, and Kids 2, the second season to air on GMA Network after Kids 2 following the show's debut on the network last April 6, 2024 and the first season to be aired on ALLTV last June 17, 2024.

Hosts and judges
Vhong Navarro, Vice Ganda, Amy Perez, Kim Chiu, Karylle, Ogie Alcasid, Anne Curtis, Jhong Hilario and Darren Espanto reprised their hosting roles for this season. Michelle Dee, Barbie Forteza, MC Muah Calaquian, Lassy Marquez, Negi and Jackie Gonzaga also served as guest co-hosts in the absence of the main hosts.

Meanwhile, Ryan Bang, Teddy Corpuz and Jugs Jugueta reprised their roles as gongmasters for the season. Ion Perez debuted as the newest gongmaster for this season.

This season marked the return of Jed Madela, Klarisse de Guzman, Dingdong Avanzado, Bituin Escalante, Kean Cipriano, Mark Bautista, Jolina Magdangal, Jona Viray, Kyla, Yeng Constantino, Darren Espanto and alternating head judges or punong hurados Louie Ocampo, Gary Valenciano, Erik Santos, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Nyoy Volante, Marco Sison, Nonoy Zuñiga and Ogie Alcasid to the judging panel after a season break during the second Kids season.

Format
Tawag ng Tanghalan: The School Showdown features student contestants aged 14 and above and are from different universities in the Philippines, representing the universities they are currently enrolled in. Similar to the rivalry between Ateneo and La Salle, the season will feature battles between student contenders from different universities competing to become the season's grand champion.

The season's format, similarly structured from the second kids season, is divided into four phases of "examinations":
 * Phase I: Entrance Examinations — equivalent to the Daily Rounds, two student contenders from two different universities will battle in a head-to-head challenge for a slot in the weekly finals.
 * Phase II: Preliminary Examinations — equivalent to the Weekly Finals, those who won during the daily rounds will compete for a slot in the semi-finals (or monthly finals) that will be held every Saturday.
 * Phase III: Middle-term (Mid-term) Examinations — equivalent to the Semi-Finals, those who won during the weekly finals will compete for a slot in the Grand Finals (or the Huling Tapatan) after five (formerly four) weekly finals.
 * Phase IV: Final Examinations — equivalent to the Grand Finals or Huling Tapatan, those who won during the semi-finals will battle it out one last time to become the season's grand champion.

Still, the criteria for judging remains the same: 50% for voice quality (includes intonation, enunciation, voice projection and technique); and the other 50% for the overall performance (includes timing, mastery of lyrics, stage presence and audience impact).

Prizes
The student contender with the higher score during the daily rounds will receive ₱10,000 while the losing student contender will receive ₱5,000. The weekly finalist that will advance to the semifinals will receive an additional ₱25,000 while the other weekly finalists will receive ₱5,000. The semi-finalist that advances to the grand finals will receive an additional ₱30,000, while the losing semi-finalists will receive an additional ₱10,000 for those who were eliminated in the first round, and ₱15,000 for those who were eliminated in the second round.

Phase I: Entrance Examinations
Phase I, dubbed as the Entrance Examinations is equivalent to the Daily Rounds, where two student contenders from two different universities will battle in a head-to-head challenge for a slot in the weekly finals.

Results details
Contender's Information:


 * Contender from Metro Manila


 * Contender from Luzon


 * Contender from Visayas

Results Details:
 * Contender from Mindanao


 * Contender advanced to the Phase II

Contender was Gonged and Eliminated


 * Lost but was selected for Resbakbakan

Contender lost and was eliminated


 * Contender withdrew from the competition


 * Italicized names denotes a contender is a resbaker

Phase II: Preliminary Examinations
Phase II, dubbed as the Preliminary Examinations is equivalent to the Weekly Finals, where those who won during the daily rounds will compete for a slot in the semi-finals (or monthly finals) that will be held every Saturday (except on the final week).

Summary of Phase II
Contender's Information:


 * Contender from Metro Manila


 * Contender from Luzon


 * Contender from Visayas

Results Details:
 * Contender from Mindanao


 * Contender advanced to the Phase III

Contender was Gonged and Eliminated


 * Lost but was selected for Resbakbakan

Contender lost and was eliminated


 * Contender withdrew from the competition

Month 1 Preliminary Examinations
Cyd Pangca of Central Bukidnon Institute, Bukidnon (from Week 2), withdrew from the competition for personal reasons.

Phase III: Midterm Examinations
Phase III, dubbed as the Midterm Examinations is equivalent to the Semifinals, where those who won during the weekly finals will compete for two slots at stake each month in the grand finals. This phase is held every last Saturday of the month.

For this round, five judges will be sitting on the panel. There will be two rounds for the midterms: for the first round, each contender must perform their own rendition or version of a song; the top three highest scorers will advance to the second round where the top three will perform a power ballad version of a song. The two contenders with the highest average score in the second round will advance to Phase IV.

The Midterms also marked the return of the TNT Band, who was last seen on Year 3, and the return of the original number of judges serving in the panel since Year 7.

Summary of Phase III
Contender's Information:


 * Contender from Metro Manila


 * Contender from Luzon


 * Contender from Visayas


 * Contender from Mindanao

Results Details:


 * Contender advanced to the Phase IV

Contender was Gonged and Eliminated


 * Contender advanced to the second round

Lost but was selected for Resbakbakan


 * Contender lost and was eliminated

Contender withdrew from the competition

Phase IV: Final Examinations
Phase IV, dubbed as the Final Examinations, is equivalent to the Grand Finals and is scheduled to take place on September 7, 2024.

Elimination table
Results Details


 * Grand Champion

Second Place

Third Place

Top 5 Grand Finalist


 * Top 10 Grand Finalist

Advanced to the next round

Advanced to Phase II


 * Immune

Advanced to the Phase III

Advanced to the Phase IV

Selected for Resbakbakan


 * Contender did not participate in that round.

Contender was 'gonged' and eliminated

Contender was eliminated.

Contestant withdrew from the competition