Students across the Greater Philadelphia region are rolling up their sleeves and creating videos in the hopes of winning an award in the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” video contest, writes Jane M. Von Bergen for Philly.com.

Envisioned and sponsored by the Manufacturing Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the contest aims to drive student interest in a field that is severely lacking qualified workers.

The plan seems to be working. Monday’s awards ceremony held at Montgomery County Community College for 14 teams from Philadelphia, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties saw the teams cheering for not only the winners, but all the participants.

Another competition was held on Tuesday in Malvern at Penn State’s Great Valley campus, where 12 teams from Chester and Delaware Counties held their awards ceremony.

Manufacturers are hoping that the excitement from these contests will encourage more young people to opt for manufacturing as a career, especially as it becomes more and more high-tech.

According to Steve Jurash, chief executive of the Philadelphia Manufacturers Alliance, four in ten “manufacturers say they can’t find workers with the right skills for existing jobs.”  He also said the average salary of manufacturing employee is now around $81,000, including benefits.

Read more about the competition at Philly.com by clicking here.