Bill Cherry of Collinsville, Ill., won the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest Thursday after a two-day showdown with 19 of the best Elvis acts in North America.

Last year's runnerup, Donny Edwards of Las Vegas, again came in second, with Myrtle Beach, S.C., tribute artist Kevin Mills third in the event at The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown.

The winners were announced shortly before 10 p.m. after judges narrowed 10 finalists to five. The others in the top five were Leo Days of Las Vegas and Justin Shandor of Portland, Ore.

To qualify for the Ultimate Elvis contest, each tribute artist had to win a preliminary competition sanctioned by Graceland. Cherry won the Tupelo Elvis Festival in Elvis' Mississippi birthplace in June and opened his competition Thursday night in a white jumpsuit with the songs "You Gave Me a Mountain" and "My Way."

Standing in the wings during the competition was the man many tribute artists acknowledge as the best Elvis Presley act in the world. As the first winner of the Ultimate Elvis contest in 2007, Shawn Klush of Pittston, Pa., lived up to his billing as "the closest to the King."

Klush, a friend to most of the acts in the Memphis competition, declined to comment on favorites among them, but he said backstage the only performer who could compare with Presley for "the magnitude of his charisma" was Michael Jackson.

It was one more tribute to Elvis and to Jackson as judges pondered who would become this year's winner of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest.

Last year's winner, Brandon Bennett of Ponchatoula, La., was unavailable because of his role in a theater production in Canada, so Klush did "Hound Dog" and "American Trilogy" as the traditional encore by a previous winner.

"It doesn't get any better than Shawn Klush," said Carolyn Bledsaw, an administrative assistant at a bank in Booneville, Ark.

Losers in Thursday's competitions weren't necessarily losers. In the audience were theater owners Jess and Linda Davis, who run the Tennessee Shindig theater in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. They were recruiting Elvis acts as part of their Tennessee music tribute. Among the acts they were hoping to recruit was Stephen Kabakos of Milton, Ontario; Pete Paquette of Vankleek Hill, Ontario, and Days.

Cherry won $20,000 in cash and a contract with Legends in Concert in Las Vegas.