The best high school football players in the region end their seasons at Heinz Field, and the top city baseball teams play for the championship at PNC Park. Likewise, the best high school musical performers showcase their talent at the Benedum Center.

Next year, the actors and actresses will have the chance to compete for an even bigger stage: the legendary Palace Theater on Broadway.

Talk about a thrill.

The Pittsburgh CLO, creator of the annual Gene Kelly Awards, has joined with the Nederlander Producing Co., which operates theaters in New York City, London and elsewhere, to create the National High School Musical Theater Awards.

In tribute to James M. Nederlander, the firm's 86-year-old chairman and recipient of 11 Tony Awards, the prizes will be called "Jimmys." They might just as appropriately have been called "Genes," modeled as they are on the local awards that began here in 1991 and since have been copied by numerous regional theater companies.

For pure entertainment, fun and evidence of the hard work and skill of thousands of young people, you can't beat the Kelly Awards show.

So far, 30 programs from around the country have signed on for the first year of the national awards, and each will send their best actor and best actress, so this will be a select group. Along with the awards, there are plans for college and conservatory scholarships, too.

Giving students who participate in the annual spring ritual of a high school musical a showcase on the New York stage is an ideal way to nurture both those with a future as performers and those whose future in the theater will be in the audience. And it's great to see a Pittsburgh innovation get national recognition. Bravo.