Organizers of the Northwest Entrepreneur Competition have set next April 13 as the date for the annual competition that now has been running for 15 years.

Sponsors and organizers also changed the name of the event, previously known as the Inland Northwest Business Plan Competition.

“The steering committee wanted the name to more specifically state their goal for students, and that is for them to ultimately one day become entrepreneurs,” says Meagan Garrett, owner and operator of Spokane-based BrandVenture Consulting LLC. BrandVenture handles the promotion and marketing of the event, held annually at Whitworth University north of Spokane.

High school students, college undergraduates, and graduate students compete for cash awards—the largest award being a $10,000 prize in the open division—to be used toward the actual startup of their proposed business plans presented before a panel of judges.

Last March, a total of 74 teams and 100 students participated in the competition.

At the collegiate level, past student presenters have come from Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, North Idaho College, Community Colleges of Spokane, University of Idaho, Washington State University, and Whitworth University.

Past winners at the competition include Spokane-based startups GreenCupboards, an online retailer now known as etailz Inc., and Photoboxx, a company that bills itself as a social media hashtag printer. Etailz announced last month that it had been acquired by a New York company for $75 million. 

Competition is open to any team led by a degree-seeking candidate in good standing of an Inland Northwest two-year or four-year college, Garrett says.

Sinead Vorhees, Whitworth’s assistant director of internships and external relations in the business and economics department, serves as the NEC’s director.

Vorhees says high school students are encouraged to compete in a division set up for their age group. She says community members are welcome to join student teams to lend support of their ideas in the competition.

“The success and longevity of the Northwest Entrepreneur Competition reflect the strength of Spokane’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and commitment of our regional schools to cultivate innovative thought and talent,” Vorhees says.

Industry or business experts and entrepreneurs are being asked to join the competition as judges to help provide feedback and support to student teams as they proceed through the competitive process to improve their idea.

“If you’re a business that values entrepreneurship and wants to support the next generation of entrepreneurs as a means of economic development for our region, support the competition through sponsorship,” Garrett says. Past sponsors of the event include Avista Corp., the Herbert B. Jones Foundation, STCU, and Technet.

Parents, high school teachers, and college instructors are asked to encourage their students to participate in the competition.