Top prize is 'gold' for winner of 2010 'Ultimate Elvis' contest

Photo by Nikki Boertman // Buy this photo

Justin Shandor of Portland, Oregon, won the 2010 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest at the Orpheum in Memphis on Saturday.

The third time was the charm — and so was "Polk Salad Annie."

For Justin Shandor, his third try at the annual Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest and his all-out version of Elvis Presley's "Polk Salad Annie" brought first prize.

The annual Graceland-sanctioned competition is in its fourth year of bringing top ETAs, as they're called, to Memphis during Elvis Week. Shandor's first-place win gets him a $20,000 prize in addition to a contract to perform in the Legends in Concert Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Tour.

To get to the top spot, he had to win one of the preliminary rounds held around the world — in his case, the Las Vegas Ultimate Elvis contest. Then Thursday night he survived the semifinals where, of 23 Elvii in competition, 10 were selected to perform at the Orpheum Friday night.

Each performer did two songs in the first half of the show, Shandor bringing his big voice and musicality to the epic "How Great Thou Art" and "Unchained Melody."

After intermission, he remained in the top five. According to the rules, the judges were making their determination based only on the final performance. Shandor put on a blue jump suit and ripped out a powered up version of the song about the girl who made alligators look tame — "Polk Salad Annie" — and won the big prize.

The 26-year-old Shandor has been doing his Elvis act for 10 years, although his exposure started earlier.

"My father used to tell me when I was a little boy, 'Hey man, comb your hair like Elvis. You should do Elvis,' and I was like 10, 11 years old. I said, 'aw, Dad, you're crazy. I don't look like Elvis, I can't do Elvis. Elvis is too cool.' "

But Shandor kept the look: He was teased in high school for looking like Elvis (much like Elvis having been teased at Humes High for looking like Elvis).

And he kept up the interest in Elvis' music. "I'm a musician — I play a lot of different stuff, but Elvis is in his own category for me compared to jazz, rock, rap or anything."

Shandor didn't get very far two years ago in his first attempt at the competition, but came close last year. This time around, he developed a strategy to take the judges through the years of Elvis — young, middle and the last years.

"I wanted it soooo bad," he said. "Three years being here and I was wondering how it would feel to win this thing because man, that would just be the gold. I've been doing Elvis for 10 years and this is the ultimate handshake when they say we appreciate what you're doing. And it feels good."

Second place winner was Kevin Mills singing "Suspicious Minds." He takes home $3,000. And third place went to Jay Dupuis ("You've Lost That Loving Feeling") who gets $2,000.

© 2010 Go Memphis. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.