| Steve Blanchard Talent Quest Florida owner & Your Emcee |
| Phil Garris Talent Quest Florida owner & Your head judge |
| Looking for information, booking information and photos for Phil Garris? Click here! |
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| Welcome to Talent Quest Florida, the world's largest regional karaoke singing contest that feeds into the national Talent Quest competition. Each year, singers from across the state of Florida compete in local venues to secure a spot in our regional finals held every summer. What started out as a small contest in the Sunshine State in 2001 has grown by leaps and bounds, and the last year it produced the 2009 National Overall Winner, Tessa O'Gilvie. In 2008, national winner Lonza Bartlett also came out of this competition! Here's what you need to know about us: We are a karaoke singing competition. We have three categories divided into male and female divisions: Country, Contemporary and 50-And-Over. Contestants must qualify for our regional contest at local venues throughout the state. That list of bars, restaurants and clubs can be found on our Venues page. Check often because the list is always growing. Venues have multiple opportunities for singers to qualify for the local finals. Talent Quest Florida judges and an emcee will come into your local venue to oversee your local final. Those who qualify in their local venue will compete in their respective category at Talent Quest Florida 2010 in Tampa next summer in Tampa. A detailed regional schedule will be released early next year. Contestants must be 21 years old by the time of the National contest and are judged on three areas: Vocal ability, appearance and stage presence. Winners of Talent Quest Florida (one male and one female from each category) get paid entry, air fare and hotel stay at the national Talent Quest Karaoke competition in Laughlin, Nevada in September! Want to learn more? Check out our videos, FAQ and Rules pages for all the details! The 2009 regional competition brought out nearly 300 singers to The Ritz Ybor in Tampa. A very qualified panel of judges choose the top performer in each of the six categories to receive a trip to perform on the national level in Laughlin, Nevada, this fall. Florida's appearance in the Finals was amazing. We took women's pop and country titles at nationals and placed fifth in the Men's 50-Plus and Men's Pop categories. We secured third, fourth and fifth in the women's 50-Plus division. Talent Quest Florida 2008 brought more than 130 singers to the regional competition in Tampa. From there six contestants earned their way to Laughlin, Nevada, where they competed for the national title. Our own Lonza Bartlett became the first-ever first place finisher from Florida when he walked away with the number one trophy in the Men's Contemporary category. You can see performances from him and other Talent Quest Florida contestants on our Video page. Bartlett wasn't alone on that stage the night of the national finals. Michael Polomba, our 2008 Men's Country winner, took second place in the national contest and our 50-plus male, Gene Goudy took a very respectable fourth-place trophy. Nichol Benoit, who has been a staffer for Talent Quest Florida the past three years, placed fifth in the Women's Country category. We're looking ahead to 2010 and have several venues already committed to providing us with local competitions. The list of venues on board for 2010 is on our Venues page and we expect the list to continue to grow. If you know of a venue near you that you think would be a great place for our contest, let us know! Contact us at Phil@TalentQuestFlorida.com or by calling 727-374-8072 for more information. |
