CONTEST GUIDELINES
Innovative ideas competition for Central Illinois.
ELIGIBILITY:
- Acceleration Applicants must agree to locate the company's principal place of business within Sangamon County at the time of the award. By submitting an application to Project Innovation, the Applicant agrees to locate his or her business in Sangamon County for no less than one year in the event their innovation is chosen as an award winner. The date of residency begins at the time of the monetary award. Applicants must NOT have net annual gross revenue of more than $5,000,000 and have 10 or less employees. The award winners will be required to submit progress reports during remaining calendar year.
- Innovation Applicants must agree to locate the company's principal place of business within Sangamon County at the time of the award. By submitting an application to Project Innovation, the Applicant agrees to locate his or her business in Sangamon County for no less than one year in the event their innovation is chosen as an award winner. The date of residency begins at the time of the monetary award. Applicants must NOT have net annual gross revenue of more than $2,500,000. In addition to this, the business must not have more than 5 employees at the time of application submission. The award winners will be required to submit a one page progress report one year after the award receipt.
SUBMITTING:
Applications may optionally include an Appendix with a maximum limit of two pages. Applications may be submitted in two ways: electronically via
projectinnovation@gscc.org in a PDF format or in a hardcopy version sent to:
Attn: Competition Screening Committee
The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce
1011 S. Second Street
Springfield, Illinois 62704
All hardcopy applications must be postmarked April 8, 2011 to be considered. A confirmation letter will be sent to the lead applicant upon receipt. Electronic submissions must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. central standard time April 8, 2011 to be considered. A confirmation email will be sent to the lead applicant following receipt of the application.
SCORING:
Projects will be measured by their: (1) economic impact on Sangamon County (2) viability, (3) merit of innovation, and (4) long term return potential to the community.
The Applications and Finalists will be scored as follows:
- 35% of total points based on the innovation’s economic impact on Sangamon County
- 25% of total points based on the viability of the Applicant’s submission
- 25% of total points based on the innovation of the Applicant’s submission
- 15% of total points based on how the award money will be used to achieve a significant economic impact on Sangamon County
AWARDS:
Project Innovation, with support from the Q5 Partnership, will be providing entrepreneur assistance to the winning applicants. The following is the award structure for the Acceleration winners:
- Grand Prize $20,000
- First Runner-Up $10,000
- Second Runner-Up $5,000
The following is the award structure for the Innovation winners:
- Grand Prize $5,000
- First Runner-Up $3,000
- Second Runner-Up $1,000
In both categories, the screening judges will request five finalists to develop a presentation to a panel of Final Judges. The Finalists in both the Acceleration and Innovation categories will be asked to re-present an abbreviated presentation at a public forum later that day and will be awarded their prize money at the conclusion of that forum. An outline of the Finalist Competition will be given when the finalists are announced on April 26, 2011. Only one project will be allowed per Applicant.
Competition Timeline
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2012 Schedule Coming Soon! |
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