“Wiring Better Futures,” the theme for the 2023 competition season combines the championship’s competitive legacy with a future-focused mission in supporting electrical apprentices.
SYCAMORE, ILL. – IDEAL® Electrical announces the eighth season for its popular electrical competition event series, the IDEAL National Championship. This year, under the theme of “Wiring Better Futures,” qualifying for the Finals competition is open to and focused on electrical apprentices in the United States. Over $80,000 in prizes and cash will be given out to apprentices who compete at all stages of the competition series.
Professional electricians can still be involved at the qualifying events. They can register and compete for bragging rights and the first-place professional at each qualifying event will take home a prize pack from IDEAL Electrical and the IDEAL National Championship sponsors.
The IDEAL National Championship Finals will be held at the Tampa Convention Center on October 27, 2023. Ten apprentices from the United States will have the opportunity to compete for their share of $70,000 in cash given out at Finals.
The qualifying rounds of competition in the United States will kick-off at the Upper Midwest Electrical Expo in April. This year, electrical apprentices will have four chances to qualify for the Finals. The top four times at each qualifying event will win cash prizes and the top two times will advance to the Finals. The final two US qualifiers will be chosen from the fastest third-place times from all four events. Apprentices can qualify at these four electrical events this year:
- Upper Midwest Electrical Expo: April 19 – 20 (Minneapolis, MN)
- NTI Trade Show: July 29-30 (Ann Arbor, MI)
- NECA Convention and Trade Show: Sept. 30 – Oct. 2 (Philadelphia, PA)
- IEC SPARK: Oct. 16-18 (Dallas, TX)
“We’re thrilled to focus this year’s competition on developing the future of the electrical trade through our apprentice-focused qualifying format,” said Carmen Cardillo, VP/GM IDEAL Electrical, North America. “The IDEAL National Championship is our way of celebrating and giving back to the next generation while shining a spotlight on an amazing career path.”
The Canadian event series, Battle of the Schools, will begin in late March. Over $25,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded to trade schools and apprentices in Canada throughout the Battle of the Schools season.
Established in 2016, the IDEAL National Championship was designed to celebrate and honor the electrical trade. The competition highlights the professional trades as an exhilarating, rewarding and in-demand career path that provides necessary skills to keep local communities thriving. This effort remains a priority for IDEAL as part of its commitment to support the trade and infrastructure communities overall.
The manufacturing industry faced a major setback after losing roughly 1.4 million jobs at the onset of the pandemic. Since then, the trades industry has struggled to hire entry level and skilled workers alike, and the need for new hires is at an all-time high. Coming out of the pandemic the demand for skilled trades have increased between 100% to over 300%.
