New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition

New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition (Chinese: 新秀歌唱大賽溫哥華選拔賽) or NTSA Vancouver for short, is an annual singing contest organized by Fairchild Television in Vancouver, held every July. The winner of the contest will represent the city of Vancouver in the NTSA International Finals, usually held in Hong Kong, organized by TVB.

From its start in 1994, 15 finalists ( 12 finalists from 1996 onwards ) competed in NTSA Vancouver for the top 2 spots. Those two contestants will then enter the NTSA North American Finals. 12 to 15 regional winners (and some runner-ups) from Canada and the US would compete for the title of North American champion. The North American champion would then compete as the "overseas contestant" in the NTSA Finals in Hong Kong.

With the emergence of several Australian, European and Asian cities like Melbourne, London, Amsterdam and Shanghai wanting to be included in the event, in 1997, TVB Hong Kong created the NTSA International Finals. Instead of having one "overseas contestant" from North America competing in the NTSA Finals ( now renamed the NTSA Hong Kong Regional Finals ), now each participating country would send regional representatives to compete in the NTSA International Finals ( much like an international beauty pageant would ).

With that, the North American Finals were cancelled starting that year. Fairchild TV continued to host the NTSA Canadian Finals to search for National representatives while the American cities just sent their regional winners directly to the NTSA International Finals.

In the NTSA Canadian Finals, representatives from 7 Canadian cities ( Toronto and Vancouver always sent two representatives while other cities: Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Victoria and either Ottawa or Montreal sent one ) would compete for the top 3 places, which would give them the opportunity to represent Canada and their city in the NTSA International Finals.

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Wikipedia