Wednesday, January 13, 2021

UNCW, in partnership with Chancellor Sartarelli and UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is pleased to announce the sixth annual Chancellor’s High School Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition – a compelling opportunity for high school thinkers, dreamers and innovators to explore their entrepreneurial spirit. The competition challenges students to work with like-minded thinkers to develop creative and innovative solutions to solve real-world problems. This is a high school “lean” business competition for southeast North Carolina, covering 18 counties.
 
Each participating high school is allowed two competing teams, one per track (for-profit/nonprofit). Teams are made up of one to four students, who must be enrolled in a participating high school for the duration of the competition. Each team is required to have either a teacher, counselor or community member serving as the team advisor.
 
Cash prizes for the top three place winners will be awarded in each track ($1,500 is the top prize). School faculty mentors whose team places first in each track will receive $250. Winning teams will also receive a trophy, a one-year membership to the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and a copy of The Lean Entrepreneur by Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits.
 
On April 30, 2021, the top three teams for both “Social Enterprise” and “For-Profit Enterprise” will pitch their business idea in front of a panel of judges. Judges include experienced entrepreneurs, faculty members and community leaders. Winners will be announced live after the competition and Youth Summit in April.
 
To encourage more student participation in this challenging year, we are offering the first six teachers who commit to encouraging two student teams to participate (one in each track) a classroom care package.
 
Important dates to keep in mind:

• Registration Opens - 2/1/21
• Preliminary Presentation Due - 3/19/21
• Semi-Final Announcement - 3/26/21
• Pitch Practice with CIE Mentors at YEPex April Meetup - 4/19/21
• Final Competition - 4/30/2021 at the 3rd annual YEPex Youth Summit held virtually via Zoom

Visit the website for more information.