Youth Talent Showdown (YTS), organized by Vancouver Chinatown BIA and Chinatown NEXT, has been known as a starting point for young professional talent careers. The community competition is held annually at the Vancouver Chinatown Festival and brings together diverse young performers aged 15 to 25.

This year’s finals will be held August 10 on Columbia and Keefer streets. The contestants and the competition build community passion, pride in exposure and relationships.

Passion is the common motivational factor for contestants, with the hope of gaining experience in becoming a professional in disciplines such as dance, music and magic.

Evanna Chiu, an opera singer and finalist in 2007, says that the Youth Talent Showdown has provided an environment which she felt "was not a cut-throat competition but a rather positive experience for a chance exposure."

The showdown organizers are proud to have previously connected young talents with media exposure as a kick off to their careers.

Jesus Cancino, a guitarist, entered the competition twice because he believes the YTS provides an opportunity to gain experience about "professionalism and exposure with the media."

Vilma Omosura, mother of the 2006 winner Ramil Omosura, said, "YTS was the starting point of his music career." Ramil is currently performing and recording locally and internationally.

Cameron Gordan, the 2005 winner, agrees.

"YTS was definitely one of the competitions that I can thank for growth in me to qualify in the Dance World," she said.

The showdown is open for registration and accepting applications.

Registration deadline is Wednesday, July 2 at 5 p.m.

Auditions: Saturday, July 12, VCBIA society office

Preliminaries: Saturday, July 26, Vancouver Chinatown night market

Finals: Sunday, August 10, at the 9th Vancouver Chinatown festival main

Visit www.vancouver-chinatown.com.