Startup Wonder™ conducts at least one annual contest. The goal is to inspire the young participants to research a career field or envision a new solution to a problem. The contest is open to all participants (camp registration not required) between the ages of 13 and 18.
Contest categories are Career Exploration (individual student) or Entrepreneurial Contest (group of students).
Summer campers automatically enter the contest (regardless of age) when their convention-day pitch is submitted by their camp director. Summer camp participants can also initiate another entry at any time by following the process outlined below.
Contact us if you would like to be a mentor, judge, advisor or award sponsor.
Judging Criteria
Originality - Novel idea or a new approach to an existing idea.
Creativity - Engaging and fun
Visual Appeal - Clear video and audio
Research - Don't play safe but use critical thinking and show the judges you have done your research. Teams can score higher if they include a well though out "Business Model Canvas". Longer entry is not better. Stay well under the time limit.
THE PROCESS
- The participating student (or group of students) will join Startup Wonder social media channels to receive communication.
- Create "original content" entry or multimedia presentation in English (video, perzi, etc) under 2 minutes. This entry must be named in the following format “COMPANYnameOrCAREERtitle-StartupWonder-Contestyyyy”, where yyyy is the current year. For example "Dentist-StartupWonder-Contest2016", or "CleverCompanyName-StartupWonder-Contest2016".
- Upload the entry to YouTube and send us the link. Note if submitting as a group, upload the submission to YouTube only once but for each group member, their parent/guardian must fill out the Contest Entry Application separately. We will review to ensure you meet our Contest General Terms and Conditions (same as T&C in Application from) and then upload your entries to our YouTube channel and notify you.
- Invite friends and family to view your entry on Startup Wonder channel. Get at least 50 views on Startup Wonder Channel to qualify.
- Startup Wonder community of mentors and the public will choose the finalists and the judges will choose the winner(s) and award the prizes.
THE CONTENT
- Create and Upload a short entry or multimedia presentation (up to 2 minutes) in which: 1) you research a career by interviewing someone in that career field and/or present your multimedia (e.g. Prezi) presentation sharing what you learned about that field, or
- A group of friends (ideally 3-5) submit one entry pitching your idea about a new field, company (either for profit or non-profit), or product.
To explore a career, for example, the individual participant can interview (get their permission in writing, or have them also fill out our entry form) a doctor, engineer, artist, their role model, etc. Alternatively, the student can simply research that field. The submission will make us understand that specific career better. What does it take to become an artist for example, what is the work environment, the pay, the education requirement, what personality is ideal for such a career, what is interesting/fun about and what is challenging/boring about that field, etc. Get creative and introduce and explain a career or field (with a balanced view) to the judges and viewers.
To present a business or product idea, the team must answer questions about the idea or product, how to sell it, what is the cost of the product, what is the price, how does it compare to other solutions, who are the customers, etc. A good place to learn is ecorner YouTube channel. Think about covering all or most of the Business Model canvas.
- Your entry must NOT contain inappropriate language, images or direct attacks on individuals or organizations. Any entries deemed offensive will be disqualified. Your entry must be your own original creation - no copyrighted music, entry, sounds or images may be used without prior, full permission from the author(s) of said copyrighted music, entry, sounds or images that you wish to include. Your entry must not infringe on any third party rights.