The ninth season of Akademi Fantasia premiered on 2 April 2011 and concluded on 12 June 2011 on the Astro Ria television channel. Aznil Nawawi made a comeback as host along with Fauziah Ahmad Daud and Hattan also made a comeback to judge.
The professional trainers as well as twelve students of this season were revealed in a press conference which took place in ÃÂON malls in Malaysia. On 2 April 2011, Amy Search of Search was revealed to be the Principal for this season during Konsert Tirai Akademi Fantasia.
The season was originally planned to be the final season; however, the series would subsequently be revived in 2013.
On 12 June 2011, Hazama Ahmad Azmi was crowned the winner of the ninth season of Akademi Fantasia, beating Lenaber Hadir.
This season attracted the lowest reception of votes in the history of Akademi Fantasia, with 3.74 million votes cast.
Several new formats were also implemented in this season. For instance, the location for Diari Akademi Fantasia was disclosed which is at ÃÂON AU2, Setiawangsa. Students undergo their daily routine as a student of Akademi Fantasia in the second floor of the shopping complex for public viewing. This change is a departure from the previous eight seasons where the location for Diari Akademi Fantasia was not revealed.
The second change in Akademi Fantasia format is the implementation of Operasi Gugur. In this format, students with the least improvement would be expelled by the professional trainers in order to give an opportunity for new students to join the academy. The announcement was made at the end of the second concert in Season 9 on 16 April 2011.
Another change in Akademi Fantasia format is the introduction of an immunity system where the professional trainers would be given the power to exercise a veto on a student to spare him or her from elimination for that particular week. The immunity system, which consisted of 50% public voting from the audience and another 50% from a unanimous decision made by the professional trainers, was used in the eight concert of this season. The recipient of this system would advance automatically to the final concert without having to perform in the ninth concert. The new format change was revealed at the end of the sixth concert on 14 May 2011.
Auditions were held in the following cities:
In addition to the above cities, for the first time contestants were allowed to audition via online. To audition, they were required to upload audition clip of them singing a pre-approved song in YouTube. Then, they were required to submit their application form together with their video link. The internet auditionees were called back in order to go through the second stage until the fourth stage of the audition. Contestants were required to be between the ages of 18 and 45, and are Malaysian and Singaporean citizens who are not embedded with recording or management contracts.
On 18 February 2011, forty semi-finalists were revealed as the candidates of Akademi Fantasia. Nevertheless, only twenty-five semi-finalists were selected to move on to the next round which was determined through public voting via online and based on professional jury. The online voting commenced on 18 February 2011, and ended on 8 March 2011. The twelve finalists who made it into the academy were revealed in a press conference which took place in ÃÂON AU2, Setiawangsa.
First Air Date: 2 April 2011
First Air Date: 9 April 2011
First Air Date: 16 April 2011
First Air Date: 23 April 2011
First Air Date: 30 April 2011
First Air Date: 7 May 2011
First Air Date: 14 May 2011
First Air Date: 21 May 2011
First Air Date: 28 May 2011
First Air Date: 4 June 2011
First Air Date: 12 June 2011
(ages stated are at time of contest)