A competition for middle and high school-aged students with entrepreneurial ambitions is returning to Pittsburgh this spring to offer up to $10,000 in cash prizes to winners and their teachers.
Its return marks the second time that the challenge is being made available to all students in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties courtesy of organizers from BUILD.org, a Redwood City, California-based nonprofit youth entrepreneurship organization. BUILD said it received "generous support" from BNY Mellon, Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, DonorsChoose and the Richard King Mellon Foundation to do so.
As part of the challenge, each team of students is expected to create a business pitch that might solve a need in their communities. Each team will be asked to submit a two-to-three-minute video of their idea to enter the competition, which also requires an educator sponsor. These videos are due by March 15 and selected teams will then go on to present their pitches to a panel of judges who will determine the cash prize winners.
The competition hopes to drive participation from underrepresented populations in underserved communities to encourage these students to pursue careers with an entrepreneurial mindset.
"Pittsburgh has seen enormous economic growth over the past year, however minority communities and students haven't gotten a chance to capitalize off that development," Lamar Blackwell, founding director of BUILD Pittsburgh, said in a press release. "Students and educators will have the opportunity to learn about the entrepreneurial mindset (through the Southwestern PA Youth Pitch Competition) and the skills needed that will equip them for the future of work and ultimately, economic mobility and freedom for all."
Educators who aid students in the competition will receive a free hour of professional development training on BUILD's design challenge and design thinking principles. They'll also receive 10 hours of free curriculum to aid students in implementing human-centered design elements into their pitches.
More information on the competition can be found here.
