Previous honorees include:

ANN-MARGRET – two-time Academy Award nominee, Emmy winner, five Golden Globes, Grammy nominee

JACLYN SMITH – star of Charlie’s Angels

JUSTIN CHAMBERS – star of Grey’s Anatomy

LINDA GRAY – star of Dallas

LIZA MINNELLI – three Tony Awards, an Oscar, Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards

DOLLY PARTON – four-time Grammy Award winner

DIONNE WARWICK – multi-Grammy artist

MICHAEL BOLTON – multi-Grammy singer and songwriter

With shows like The Voice and So You Think You Can Dance vying for face time on TV, it’s no wonder that there’s such a proliferation of talent looking for a home. The talent shows score some of the biggest audience ratings and their renewed popularity has made the World Championships more relevant than ever.

To help process the talent, the veteran entertainment producer has recruited over 75 Scouts and National Directors who are currently scouring the globe for potential talent.

“This is the only truly Olympic-style talent competition ever created,” adds O’Neil. “We’ve been planting seeds for the past twenty-three years and are now ready to really show off our spectrum of talent, in both junior and adult divisions.”

There are six categories of competition: dancing, singing, modeling, acting, instrumental and variety arts. Each “act” is allowed one minute to showcase their skills. Over a hundred judges from the entertainment industry will be involved before the main prizes are awarded – “gold” medals, official World Champion trophies and plaques, recording contracts, and a total of half million dollars in scholarships. And the top prizes of all, the coveted titles “Junior and Senior Grand Champion Performers of the World!”

However, every contestant is a “Worldstar winner”… the networking opportunities are inestimable, the competition experience is beyond belief, accurate information about the industry is obtained through invaluable educational seminars, and the friendships made with talent throughout the world are priceless!