TORONTO — This just in from the Twittersphere:

“I have made the Ontario Road Knights team for 2011- 2012. I’m very happy to be part of this select team of proud truck drivers.”

The tweeter in question is Daniel Santoro (follow him @ danimal666), a driver for Trimac Transportation Services out of Welland, Ont.

On Monday morning of this week, Santoro left his southwest Ontario home at 6:30 and drove to Toronto where the first thing he had to do was present a five-minute speech on truck safety to a bunch of strangers in a boardroom at the Ontario Trucking Association.

And they grilled him for 20 minutes.

It was all part of Santoro’s campaign to win a place on the much-vaunted Ontario Road Knights Team, 2011-2012 version.

Then after him, throughout the course of the day, driver after driver, from Powassan to Brechin and all points in between, tried to wow the panel of judges to win a spot on the team.

Some spoke on truck safety; some on the importance of attitude; and one smiling chap wearing a jaunty bolo told the jury about the intricacies of playing the pedal steel guitar. One woman talked about girl guides.

And at the end of the day, the new roster of elite drivers was announced:

They are: Jack Fielding of Bison Transport Inc; Robin Seale of Erb Group of Companies; John Boneschansker of Laidlaw Carriers Van LP; Barry Wicklum (the guitar player) of Meyers Transport; Ravinder Athwal of Municipal Tank Lines; Fran (girl guide leader) Gooderham, of Thomson Terminals Limited; and finally, the tweeting Daniel Santoro, of Trimac Transportation Services.

Over the next two years, the Road Knights will be trucking’s ambassadors to Canada.

They will share important road-sharing tips with motorists, raise awareness of the vital role trucking plays in the economy, talk to young people about careers in the trucking industry and represent the trucking industry at community events, business club meetings, driver education classes, public schools, truck driving schools and to the media.

The panel of judges consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Transportation, our own Today’s Trucking editor Peter Carter, health-and-safety organizations, Guy Broderick a member of the previous Road Knights team, and members of the OTA Allied Trades Board and OTA staff.

The 2011-2012 OTA Road Knights Team will complete training and begin community outreach in March.