Nebraska Young Entrepreneur Scholars

Competition Timeline

• October 26, 2007: Nominations Deadline
• November 9, 2007: Notified of Nomination for YEC
• December 14, 2007: Applications Deadline
• February 1, 2008: Winners of YEC are Notified
• March 25, 2008: Registration for Awards Dinner Due
• April 10, 2008: 20th Annual New Ventures World Competition and "Celebrate Entrepreneurship" Awards Dinner
• April 10-12, 2008: 20th Annual New Ventures World Competition

Purpose

• To recognize Nebraska high school seniors with outstanding potential to become entrepreneurs.
• To aid them in developing successful businesses.
• To provide financial assistance to them while obtaining the degree of their choice at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Eligibility

Each applicant must meet these qualifications:

• Must be nominated by an adult who recognizes the student's entrepreneurial aspirations, such as: a high school guidance counselor; a business, FBLA or DECA teacher; or a Junior Achievement advisor.
• Must currently be a high school senior in Nebraska.

Nomination Deadline

Nominations (21k PDF) from teachers, advisors, and counselors must be received by Friday, October 26,2007.

Application Deadline

* Please note: There is an error in the scholarship application instruction letter. The application entry should be approximately 150 words per bullet point (A,B,C,D), for a total of approximately 600 words. The page should be single-spaced.

Applications must be received (by mail or electronically) by Friday, December 14, 2007.

Contact Information

Please contact with questions or problems:

Derek Busch

(402) 472-3353

Please leave your name and number if not available.

How Winners Are Selected

To apply, each student must submit a Personal Entrepreneurship Essay and Behavioral Questionnaire. The applicant's questionnaire and entrepreneurship essay are then scored. Scores from both are combined to produce a final score. Applicants are ranked according to their final score.

Awards

Finalists

Each Finalist will be invited as a guest to the annual New Ventures World Competition at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lincoln, April 10-12, 2008.. At the competition they will have the opportunity to interact with graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurs and learn from their business plans. In addition, finalists will be recognized during the annual "Celebrate Entrepreneurship" Awards Dinner Thursday, April 10, 2008. Scholarship winners will be announced at the dinner and all finalists will receive a Nebraska Young Entrepreneur t-shirt and certificate.

Top 10 Scholarship Winners

1st Place $2000*
2nd Place $1000*
3rd - 10th Places $500*

* To receive the scholarships, recipients will need to attend UNL and successfully complete Entrepreneurship 121 during the fall of their freshman year.