The Canadian chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) is holding a Youth Racecalling Contest for all youth (age 21 or under) who want to test their skills at taking the mic and announcing a race live.

The contest will give youth the chance to gain experience by calling a race, whether at a track or not, and encourages them to continue their harness racing involvement. The top three finalists will receive prize packages donated by the USHWA judges (details in official rules). All entrants will receive constructive feedback from the judges.

To enter, interested youth applicants should:

1. Join as an USHWA Youth Member. All youth members will have their $20 dues generously covered by sponsor Tim Konkle.  

2. Choose a race to call! It should be selected ahead of time for pre-approval by the panel of contest judges. No calls of replays will be eligible for submission. 

3. Call the race! The race can be a pari-mutuel, matinee, fair or qualifying race. Harness races only. French and/or English-language calls are welcome.

4. Submit your recording of the race call, identifying the racetrack, race and date, as well as your name and USHWA chapter. A file can be sent to the contest Dropbox or a link can be sent to the contest e-mail address. Other arrangements can be made in advance for judges to witness live calls via Zoom or in person, if required. 

Full rules are available here: 2023 USHWA Youth Racecalling Contest Official Rules.

The calls will be judged by a panel of USHWA Canada members (who organized the contest) and two celebrity judges who are USHWA members: The Meadowlands’ U.S. Hall of Fame announcer Ken Warkentin, who began his career in Ontario, and Ghislain Paquet, Woodbine Mohawk Park handicapper and veteran race caller at Circuit régional des courses de chevaux du Québec, plus Hippodromes de Québec and Trois-Rivières.

The rest of the panel includes: 

• Conley Ecclestone, who has made appearances on multiple online horse racing talk shows and is currently at Conestoga College taking the Broadcast-Radio program;
• Garnet Barnsdale, who is an O'Brien Award-winning harness racing journalist/analyst and has also announced a few races at the Ontario B tracks; 
• Mel Keith, the Rideau Carleton/Truro Raceway track handicapper and the most active female harness racing announcer in Canada, recently guest-calling at Clinton Raceway, Rideau and Truro;
• Nick Barnsdale, a racing journalist who has heard thousands of race calls and has an interest in the art of announcing;
• Trey Colbeck, the voice of harness racing in Manitoba from 2020-2023 who has called in three provinces and remains passionate about his craft.

The winner of the contest will have the call that receives the highest cumulative score from all judges, who will consider the accuracy and overall sound of the entries.

There is no entry fee, but all applicants must be youth members of the United States Harness Writers Association to enter this contest. Entries from non-members of USHWA will not be considered for selection. The Canadian chapter has organized this announcing contest, but youth members (new and existing memberships) from all USHWA chapters are encouraged to enter. 

The deadline for registration and submission is Oct. 31, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern).

Click here for the entry form. 

Questions can be sent to [email protected].

The contest organizers and judges look forward to hearing from all the applicants in this year's contest.

(With files from USHWA)