The 18-year-old singer won a  $750 Telstra voucher and, now that he doesn’t need a new phone, he has to figure out what else to spend it on.

Wieland, from Mt Warrigal, wowed the audience with his impressive rendition of Anthony Callea’s The Prayer. A version some might say outdid the former Australian Idol runner-up.

The judges, who included Merrigong artistic director Simon Hinton, agreed and chose him as the winner out of the seven Gong Factor contestants.

Wieland started singing in his last year of primary school, in 2006, and said he tended to sing more in various competitions rather than school productions.

The Gong Factor was one of those competitions.

I saw it in the newspaper and I thought ‘I might as well’, Wieland said.

‘‘Give it a shot and see what I can do. I wasn’t overly confident at all. I wasn’t expecting anything actually.’’

There was also an encouragement award, which went to acoustic singer-guitarist Sebastian Wattam from Figtree and Kalani Barnes from Kembla Grange.

They performed a version of Little Talks from band Of Monsters and Men.

Among the other performers was 18-year-old Jordon Mahar from Cordeaux Heights.

He opened the talent contest with the song Feeling Good, which drew applause from the small but impressed crowd.

‘‘It feels amazing,’’ Mahar said of the response.

‘‘You get such a vibe from knowing what you do makes the audience’s day a bit better.’’