Brown Bags to Stardom, a popular high school talent contest of the past, will go high-tech when it returns as a television series in January, ending a five-year hiatus.

The revival, open to 64 public and private high school students, will be reborn as a music video competition, instead of a live talent contest, and will be televised on OC 16 in a weekly series from Jan. 14 through March 11.

As with the Fox hit "American Idol," viewers can vote by phone, as well as by Oceanic interactive remote control and online (at www.brownbags tostardom.com).

"We'll air all the videos submitted," said Johnny Kai, executive producer of the project.

Kai's Music Foundation of Hawai'i, which sponsors the Hawai'i Music Awards and Legacy Awards annually, is taking over the reins. Kai said he hopes that participating schools will heighten campus participation, with multimedia classes helping to shape and mount a video entry.

Weekly voting will help decide the finalists, with tallies good only that week (you can't vote two weeks later for an earlier contestant). The winner won't be decided until a planned March 24 finale at Blaisdell Arena, Kai said. A $3,000 prize is at stake and a DVD is in the works.

The Brown Bags contest has been a launching pad for a handful of local performers, including Glenn Medeiros, Tia Carrere, Kapena, Na Leo Pilimehana and Traci Toguchi. In the original, individual talents competed in a live show, with winners decided by a panel of judges.

Schools can download registration packets and other information at the Web site.

Jeff Coelho, city director of customer services, was a one-time program director for I-94, the radio station that launched the Brown Bags concept years ago. He serves as an honorary board member of the revival.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.