The Knoxville Convention Center (KCC) and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville will welcome more than 20,000 visitors for the annual "Destination ImagiNation" (DI) Global Finals May 25-28.

DI Global Finals, an annual international creative problem solving tournament, is the culmination of the DI school year program, bringing team winners from around the country to Knoxville to compete against one another.

The DI program helps children ages eight to 18 build important, lifelong skills, like problem solving, teamwork and divergent thinking. Within the school year, DI teams solve two types of "Challenges." The "Team Challenge" involves structural, technical or theatrically oriented "Challenges" that take several months to solve. During that time, the teams also practice improvisational "Instant Challenges," which stimulate the team's ability to think quickly and creatively with only minutes to prepare solutions. When tournament time rolls around, each team's score reflects its "Team Challenge" performance plus its response to an "Instant Challenge."During the four day competition, team work and time management are critical to the success of each team. "Challenges" could range in anything from having teams designing a vehicle to race around a triangular track to composing an old-time radio show or building a lightweight, balsa wood bridge expected to hold more than 800 pounds. Competition winners will be announced on Saturday from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the awards ceremony at UT's Thompson-Boling Arena.

"This is a great piece of recurring convention business for Knoxville," said Kim Paul, KTSC Senior Director of Sales. "Destination ImagiNation has experienced good attendance numbers over the years, enjoys Knoxville and extended their contract through 2012." DI, a non-profit corporation, facilitates the program in 47 states and 28 countries worldwide. 2005 marks the 22nd year of the corporation's experience in providing creative and enriching programs for children around the world.