Cash prizes awarded for best pitch

If you’re a high school student who has the motivation and a business-minded spirit, you could win a chunk of $25,000 that’s up for grabs through a contest aimed at promoting entrepreneurship.

The Glockner Dare to Dream high school pitch competition is accepting letters of intent from teams of students from all over the Tri-State who have a unique business idea for the region.

The deadline for those letters is Oct. 1.

Now in its second year, the competition is a project of Tri-State Angel Investment Group, which makes investments in private companies to grow business in the area.

Mike Thompson, executive in residence for Tech GROWTH Ohio, said the Dare to Dream contest is a way to reach out to the community’s future business leaders.

“We want to grow business organically, starting with the students,” Thompson said. “We are promoting entrepreneurship in the Tri-State.

Last year, 100 students participated in 22 teams with $10,000 in prize money dispersed.

The grand prize winner was a team of four Greenup High School students who pitched an idea for a social media and marketing company. They won $6,000 cash.

Teams must give a 4-8 minute business pitch and PowerPoint presentation for a panel of judges, as well as answer questions from the judges.

Thompson said some schools chose to use the contest as a class project, but a team of students can enter independently of their schools.

In-school competitions will be during the last week of February with state semi-finals taking place the first week in March. The final competition will take place the second week of March.

Last year, Thompson said, no students from Lawrence County participated in the contest, which he said he hopes will change this year.

“We want to create business here and keep our best students from moving away,” Thompson said.

For a complete list of contest guidelines visit https://daretodreamtristate.wordpress.com.