The Herman J. Russell Sr. New Venture Award

The requirements to compete for the Herman J. Russell, Sr. New Venture Award are:

1) Submit a written plan describing the business concept, its innovation, and its growth potential. It must include a description of the following elements (not necessarily in the order shown) within 25 pages, plus exhibits:
a) The opportunity and the problem your proposed business will solve.
b) The target market, including its size and growth expectations.
c) Your product or service, what makes it innovative, and the resources needed to produce it.
d) Your marketing plans and how sales are made to customers.
e) Your strategy for dealing with competitors.
f) Potential financial returns with supporting financial projections
g) The qualifications you (and your team) have for building the planned business plus additional people or skills needed.
h) How and when the idea will come to market, which may be shown in a series of milestones to be achieved over time.
i) How the $5,000 award, if received, will be used to make progress on your plans.

2) The plan must be for a new start-up venture that is not currently operating.

3) Individuals or groups may enter the competition. At least one person (and preferably more) who has actively participated in the design and writing of the concept and plan must be a graduate or undergraduate student currently enrolled in or recently graduated from Georgia State University. A recent graduate is an individual who graduated no more than one year prior to the submission deadline for the competition.

4) All principals involved must be clearly identified in the submission by name, their role in the development of the concept and plan, recent educational, organizational and technological experience, postal address, telephone, and e-mail address. A primary contact person must be clearly identified.

5) Submissions and the concepts they contain are recognized as confidential and will not be disclosed outside the committee of judges without the entrant's permission.

6) All entrants must provide 6 bound copies of each submission by bringing them to the Department of Management Receptionist on the 10th floor of the Robinson College of Business or by postal service (no electronic submissions will be accepted) by 5pm May 9, 2005 addressed to:

Dr. Ben Oviatt
Herman J. Russell, Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship
Department of Management; P.O. Box 4014
J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30302-4014

7) Questions or correspondence may be directed to Dr. Ben Oviatt (Telephone: 404-651-3021; E-mail: benoviatt@gsu.edu. Also, please see www.robinson.gsu.edu/rec.

All submissions are entered into both the Herman J. Russell New Venture Award competition and the Moses Lee Reid Entrepreneurship Award competition. Judges will decide which submissions qualify for each award. In addition to the above requirements, entries will be evaluated on their innovativeness, on their potential for market success, on the size and growth potential of the proposed business, on the individual's or the team's ability to bring the idea successfully to fruition, and on the quality and clarity of the submission. Judges will select a small number of plans as finalists, and finalists will be asked to make 15-minute oral presentations of their plans to a group of entrepreneurs or investors who will serve as judges in late May 2005. The presentation will be followed by questions from the judges. The award winner will be chosen by those judges. The winner will announced to the academic and business communities. If the judges believe no entrant describes a sufficiently high quality concept and plan, no award will be made. All entrants receive feedback on the quality of their plans.