Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja has been named among the nominees for the second annual Opera Awards.

Organisers Classic FM said that among the most hotly contested categories was the Readers' Award, which pits some of the opera world's biggest stars up against each other, including Bryn Terfel, Joseph Calleja, Anna Netrebko and Renée Fleming.

Calleja said on Facebook that he was very proud to be nominated.

The awards will be decided by the judging panel, made up of chairman John Allison, critics Hugh Canning, Fiona Maddocks and George Loomis, and Sir Peter Jonas, the former Intendant of Bavarian State Opera, Elaine Padmore the Director of Opera at Covent Garden until 2011, and Nicholas Payne who is Director of Opera Europa.

The Opera Awards will take place on Monday, April 7, at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, London.

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