The event, which began in 2003 in Heinola, Finland has only been hosted  outside of its home country twice; KWC 2006 kicked off as a nautical extravaganza on board the luxury cruise ship M/S Galaxy, which technically took the contest both to Estonia’s and Finland’s waters. And in 2007 the contest was held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Despite karaoke’s cross cultural abilities, KWC officials know that ‘Finland’ is not the highest profile country on the globe in which to have an international karaoke competition and therefore not the optimal place to nurture and grow the world’s budding love affair with the sport.

With a population of just over 5 million, Finland is no larger than Maryland and sadly, many of us citizens of the world have trouble finding it on the map. With this sobering truth lingering, sources close to the KWC say its officials are now pondering who the next host country should be, and even though the KWC official website says that Finland will host the contest through 2010, there is change in the air.

There are unconfirmed rumors that the 2010 championship event will have a new country host. The question is, what country deserves the honor of hosting the world’s largest amateur talent show? Well, several countries are obvious candidates. Australia has won the top prize for three years in a row now and who hasn’t seen those breathtaking pictures of downtown Sydney. The country’s history of sending strong contenders and winning at the championships, as well as being home to a potentially beautiful venue for an international event, would make Australia a sensible choice.

Then there is Ireland, which has taken home more medals than any other country since the competition began. Many KWC participants and veterans would agree, the “Irish Contingent,” – as they are lovingly referred to as, is probably the most enthusiastic, unapologetically fanatical,  karaoke competitors in the contest. With medal dominance and a beautiful country to host the championship –do you think they could get U2 to open for them?- what’s not to love about Ireland KWC 2010?

But wait, we have indeed, buried the lead; While the U.S. may be behind in the karaoke world medal race, we do have a second and third place win under our belts, and rumors abound that the U.S. may be tapped to host an historic karaoke world championship in 2010.  In many ways, despite the U.S.’s position in the karaoke championship medal race, it is the most logical home for KWC 2010. The U.S. has always set the gold standard for popular music; even Australia’s and Ireland’s wins relied heavily on performances of “American” songs. We are the music capital of the world, exporting our musical product all over the globe.

Wendell Payne, President of the KWCUSA organization would not confirm or deny the rumors that KWC is looking for a 2010 host or that the U.S. is a top contender for the honor. He did say that recently that there has been intense interest in the U.S. championship series in general by several “high profile” organizations. Whether that means Finland is calling isn’t clear, but if it is true, a major announcement will likely happen in the coming weeks at the championship event on September 11 and 12^th. Until then, karaoke addicts from Sacramento to Sarasota, will just have to hunker down, wait, and practice that mic twirl.

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