TAIPEI, June 9 (AP) -- Singapore pop idol Stephanie Sun, who won the best female singer award at last year's Golden Melody Awards, faces tough competition at Saturday's event -- one of the Chinese-language music industry's top honors.

Sun is competing against six other strong contenders from across Asia, most notably Malaysian singer-songwriter Penny Tai. The 17th edition of the awards will be held in the capital, Taipei.

Tai, who has made a name for herself in the Taiwanese pop-rock market, has gathered an impressive collection of nominations for best composer, best producer and best Mandarin pop record for her album "Crazy Love."

Joining Tai on the female singer shortlist is fellow Malaysian Fish Leong, as well as Singapore's Tanya Chua and Taiwan's Cheer Chen. Chua's "Amphibian" and Chen's "A Fabulous Adventure" are also nominees in the best pop record category.

Taiwanese talents dominate the best male singer category, which includes David Tao, Hu Defu, Terry Lin and Leehom Wang. Hong Kong pop king Jacky Cheung is also a nominee.

Tao, whose music is known for its innovation and strong social commentary, is also nominated for best producer and best pop album for "The Great Leap 2005." From that album, "The Art of War" is up for the song of the year.

His strongest contender is likely Hu Defu, who has also bagged nominations in the best lyricist, best composer, and song of the year categories for "Pacific Wind."

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Nominees in top categories at Taiwan's 17th Golden Melody Awards