THORNHILL, ON -- April 2, 2009 -- Skills Canada has come on board as a main supporter of Collision Repair magazine’s Talent Competition, launched on April 1, 2009. Skills Canada (http://www.skillscanada.com ) is an active voice in the skilled trades community, working with employers, educators, labour groups and governments to promote skilled trades and technology careers among Canadian youth.

“Effectively communicating Skilled Trade and Technology career options to youth will only be accomplished through the creative efforts and collaborative work of many organizations,” said Shaun Thorson, Executive Director, Skills/Compétences Canada. “Contests such as the one Collision Repair magazine has developed, demonstrate their goal to engage youth in an experiential way to better understand skilled trade occupations and those individuals that work in them.  We are grateful for the magazine’s support and would call upon other organizations to learn from this initiative and support the skills movement.” 

“We are extremely thrilled to have Skills Canada’s support as we promote our talent competition,” said Darryl Simmons, publisher of Collision Repair magazine. “One of the main objectives of the competition is to encourage youth involvement in the collision repair field.”

Collision Repair Talent Search contenders are encouraged to submit videos of themselves or their family/friends demonstrating talents. These talents include musicians in the field, but go further in hopes of capturing the attention of anyone who can demonstrate any sort of talent. A panel of judges will select the 10 best videos, which will be posted on the web site for public voting. The top three videos will win prizes, including a Fender Classic Series ’65 Mustang guitar.

All videos have a chance to be included on the upcoming DVD “The Biggest Hits of Collision Repair” available exclusively through Collision Repair magazine. This DVD will be a compilation video of some of the greatest talents in the collision repair industry.

All proceeds made from sales of the DVD will be donated to Skills Canada.

Head over to collisionrepairmag.com/talentshow to enter the competition. Also, check us out on MySpace at myspace.com/collisionrepairtalent.

For additional information, including any questions, send an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it