IMAGES OF THE KING™
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ELVIS TRIBUTE ARTIST CONTEST
In 1987 the King’s veterinarian Edward “Doc” Franklin made the modern ETA
community a reality when he established the event known as IMAGES. The event, which includes an internationally recognized ETA contest and showcases, has crowned over thirty World Champions who have gone on to be recognized as the top ETAs performing today. As part of our goal to return Images of the King to its former glory, we have developed the following pledge in order to outline our intent:
THE IMAGES OF THE KING PLEDGE
- We pledge to always put the fans first, it’s because of them that we do what we do.
- We pledge to treat the performers, be they headliners or contestants, with respect and dignity.
- We pledge that our contests will always be fair and that our judges will be as professional, knowledgeable and as prepared as possible.
- We pledge that we will treat anyone producing an Images of the KingTM preliminary, our Sponsors and
Patrons, as partners. - We pledge to treat our champions as champions, promote them and help them advance their careers.
- We pledge to #BringBackTheKing. Celebrating his life, legacy and music is the reason we have these events in the first place.
REGARDING THE 2025 CONTEST
The 2025 Images of the King™ World Championship Contest in Las Vegas will consist of a Preliminary Round, a Semi-Final Round, and a Final Round. Contestants will also be assigned performance times on the International Bar stage on the Casino floor. These appearances, while not judged, are required and a 5 point penalty will be applied to your final score for each unexcused absence.
The preliminary round will be held in two parts. Part one will be on Wednesday, July 9th and will consist of two songs performed to tracks on the International Bar Stage. Part two will be on Thursday, July 10th and will consist of one song performed with the EAS band on Elvis’ International Theater stage. Every contestant that performs will get a multi cameral digital cut of their performance as a participation prize courtesy of Bill Strauss. After the preliminary round, there will be cuts.
The Semi-Final Round will take place on Friday, July 11th and will include those who moved on from the preliminary round, plus any contestants that have pre-qualified for the Semi-Finals by competing in one of our preliminary contests elsewhere in the world. This round will be one song, with the EAS band on Elvis’ International Theater stage. After the Semi-Final Round there will be cuts.
The Final Round will take place on Sunday, July 13th. Our five finalists will each perform three songs with the EAS band, as they compete for their share of over $6,000 in prize money and the title of “2025 World Champion.”
(see the schedule for more details).
2025 PRIZE MONEY
$3,000 Images of the King World Champion
$1,500 Runner Up
$600 3rd Place
$400 4th Place
$200 5th Place
In addition to the prize money, the World Champion will receive a performance contract to appear at next year’s Las Vegas Summer Tribute Festival and will have their name engraved on the “Images of the King World Champions” plaque that will be on display at the Westgate Resort Casino,
If we have interested contestants, we will hold a “Big – Little King” Contest™, which will take place at the Casino’s International Bar Stage during the daytime. Big-Little King contestants must be ages 14 and under.
The registration fee for this year’s contest is $100.
We look forward to seeing you, your family and friends in Vegas this year!
Sincerely,
Jason L Sherry
Executive Producer
For “Full Name,” please use your legal name. There is room for a “stage name” on the registration form itself. Please enter “2025 Images of the King World Championship” in the field, “Name of Festival.”
click here to email your mp3 or mp4 tracks for the track roundsOctober 2025 Press Release
The Images of the King Worldwide Tribute Artist Competition becomes part of the Las Vegas Summer Tribute Festival Hosted by the Westgate Resort Las Vegas!
A week long tribute to the life, legacy and music of Elvis Presley will take place at the historic hotel that was host to Elvis’ sold out run of 636 consecutive concerts!
LAS VEGAS, NV (OCTOBER 2024) –– In 1987 Elvis’ veterinarian Edward “Doc” Franklin made the modern Elvis Tribute Artist (ETA) community a reality when he established the event known as “Images of the King.” The event, which includes an internationally recognized ETA contest, has crowned thirty-seven world champions who have gone on to be recognized as the preeminent ETAs performing today.
In 2013 the event was taken over by TributeFestival.Rocks, producers of the tribute events throughout the United States including the Las Vegas Tribute Festival. “At that time, we had been producing tribute events for over ten years, and the recognition we had received from fans and the Tribute Artist community allowed us to take over Images and continue building on its legacy,” stated Jason Sherry, TributeFestival.Rocks owner. “It was an honor and a privilege to carry on with the event, and be an essential part of Memphis’ Elvis Week each year.”
However, like all things, events need to keep evolving and TributeFestival.Rocks producers started looking at ways to introduce a new audience to the tribute artist world. After a conversation with the event team at the Westgate Resort Las Vegas, TributeFestival.Rocks decided to team up with the iconic resort to produce the “Las Vegas Summer Tribute Festival” in an attempt to recapture the glory of the summer festivals produced at the resort in the early 1970’s.
“Once we decided to invest in the Las Vegas Summer Tribute Festival,” remarked Terri Futreal, TributeFestival.Rocks producer, “including the Images of the King World Championship ETA Contest as part of the festival was a no-brainer! No location in the world, other than Memphis, has such strong ties to Elvis’ legacy than the former International Hotel in Las Vegas.”
Planning is currently underway for the 2025 Las Vegas Summer Tribute Festival and the 2025 Images of the King World Championship, which will take place concurrently from July 9 through July 13. The Festival will take place at the Westgate Resort Las Vegas with shows in the International Theater, the Westgate’s Cabaret Theater and free shows all week on the Westgate’s International Bar stage.
This year’s Las Vegas Summer Tribute Festival will feature six headline concerts, four-days of the Images of the King World Championship ETA contest and five-nights of entertainment on the Westgate’s International Bar stage. The world renowned EAS tribute band has been contracted to back the festival and perform behind the big headline shows. These shows will feature some of the world’s best tribute artists including six ETAs that have been named the “Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artists” by Graceland, Dwight Icenhower from Florida, Jay Dupuis originally from Louisiana but now residing in the UK, Gordon Hendricks from the UK, Taylor Rodriguez from Virginia, Victor Trevino Jr. from Texas and the newest Ultimate Emilio Santoro, also from the UK. Images of the King World Champion Ted Torres will also appear along with up and coming tribute artist Jordan Poole. World Champion Irv Cass will serve as the event’s Master of Ceremonies and Dan Barrella will keep things moving on the International Bar stage.
The Westgate Resort Las Vegas is offering a very special room rate for attendees, please call for details. Tickets for individual shows can be purchased via TicketMaster starting at $29-$49 depending on the show. VIP Packages can be purchased directly from Tribute Promotions, producers of Images of the King and the Las Vegas Summer Tribute Festival including all nine events in the International Theater starting at $299. VIP package holders will be seated in front rows of their section, invited to both a special meet and greet with the performers and to a Tribute Artist guided backstage tour of the International Theater including Elvis’ dressing room! These events will not be open to the public. A seating diagram is available on the festival’s website.
Elvis Tribute Artists interested in competing in the 2025 Images of the King World Championship should complete the application on the festival’s website. Each contestant will receive a pass for themselves and a companion to all of the shows, a professionally produced multi-camera video of themselves performing on Elvis’ stage and various other gifts from our sponsors. The first 20 contestants to enter will receive a greatly discounted room rate. The top five will go home with their share of $6,000 in prize money and the Grand Champion will be invited back to perform in the International Theater during next year’s festival and become part of Images legacy by having their name engraved on the “Images of the King World Champion’s Plaque,” permanently on display at the Westgate Resort Las Vegas!
August 2019 Notice to Fans and ETAs
As you may or may not know, Sherry Management LLC and the ElvisFestival.com series of events has evolved into Tribute Promotions and the TributeFestival.Rocks series of events. As part of this evolution, we are no longer licensing our events with EPE and are therefore no longer hosting preliminaries to the UETAC. Instead, we are reinvesting our brand, Images of the King. It’s our goal to bring the Images of the King Contest back to the forefront in the ETA industry as the preeminent opportunity for ETAs from around the world to showcase their talents. Thank you for continuing to support this great entertainment!
January 2013 Press Release
Images of the King becomes part of the ElvisFestival.com series of events
Two giants in Elvis entertainment merge to become one of the largest tribute entertainment providers in the country!
MEMPHIS, TN (JANUARY 2013) –– In 1987 Elvis’ veterinarian Edward “Doc” Franklin made the modern Elvis Tribute Artist (ETA) community a reality when he established the event known as “Images of the King.” The event, which includes an internationally recognized ETA contest and showcases, has crowned twenty-six world champions who have gone on to be recognized as the preeminent ETAs performing today.
After Doc’s death in 2006, Bobbie Hoover and her husband Michael (the 1988 Images of the King Champion) took over the event and have run it successfully until today. “We were so excited that the Franklin’s choose us to carry on Doc’s legacy and we’re very proud of everything we’ve done with it,” commented Hoover. “And we’re excited to see where the event goes over the next twenty-six years” she added.
With more and more Elvis events being held each year, the Hoovers have been looking for a way to continue the Images of the King event and secure it’s legacy into the future. To that end, they are excited to announce that the event is now part of the ElvisFestival.com series of events. “When we first talked to Jason Sherry, the producer of the ElvisFestival.com events, we knew that he and his company could continue to invest in Images and continue to build on the twenty-six year old foundation,” commented Hoover.
Sherry Management, the producers of the ElvisFestival.com series of events currently produce seven Elvis Festivals annually including events in Las Vegas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Indiana. Their largest event, the LakeGeorge.com Elvis Festival, attracts over 4,000 visitors annually to the picturesque vacation community of Lake George, NY. “We’ve been producing Elvis events now for ten years, and the recognition we’ve received from Elvis fans and the Elvis Tribute Artists has been incredible,” stated Sherry. “It’s both an honor and a privilege to carry on the storied legacy of Images of the King.”
Planning is currently underway for the 2013 Images of the King, Elvis Tribute Artist Contest and Showcase, which will take place from August 11 through August 16. For the first time ever, the event will take place on Beale Street, the heart of Memphis. The historic New Daisy Theater has been transformed into classic Las Vegas-style showroom. The New Daisy will host the contest and showcases, and other parts of the event will be held in locations around Memphis’ downtown.
Renowned Elvis tribute band Change of Habit has been hired to back both the contest and the showcases. Irv Cass, the 1999 Images of the King Champion will be sharing the responsibilities of Master of Ceremonies with Michael Hoover. The showcase of champions on Monday night will include performances by Cass and Hoover, plus 2012 Champion Gordon Elvis and the winner of the first ever Sao Paulo, Brazil Elvis Festival. The Monday show will star 1991 Champion Doug Church. Tuesday’s showcase will feature 2008 Champion Gino Monopoli and will star the 2010 Champion and Graceland’s current reigning Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Ben Portsmouth.
The cornerstone of the event, the Elvis Tribute Artist Contest will be expanded to include five divisions. Competitors will choose to compete against other ETAs portraying Elvis in the 50s/60s or 70s, in both professional and non-professional classes. Plus, a youth division is being included for competitors under the age of 12. “It’s important for our future and the future of Elvis’ legacy to encourage young people to admire and impersonate Elvis,” commented the event’s new talent director Terry Collins. Guaranteed prize money of over $13,000 will be awarded to the twenty-three finalists with the Images Grand Champion receiving $5,000.
For more information on the 2013 Images of the King, or any of the ElvisFestival.com series of events, visit www.ElvisFestival.com or call the Elvis Festival information hotline at 1-888-406-5885.