SALT LAKE CITY — An events registration and management tool won the $40,000 grand prize for the top student entrepreneurial business plan at the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge.
Utah's future entrepreneurs put their best ideas on display Wednesday night at the annual Utah Entrepreneur Challenge hosted at the University of Utah.
Out of approximately 100 competitors representing every college and university in Utah, only 10 made it to the final judging stage to compete for the $40,000 grand prize.
The top prize went to Event Espresso, an events registration and management plug-in for WordPress.
"We didn't expect to win, but are very pleased to be recognized with such an award," said Garth Koyle, a graduate student at the University of Utah and member of Team Event Espresso. "The prize money will be put to good use and help us further the success of Event Espresso."
The teams went through three rounds of judging by local "movers and shakers" in the entrepreneurial community in hopes of finding "student teams that can convince the judges that their business plan and business idea are going to be successful," said director of judges Parker Ence.
Other winners include BlueCache for Best Presentation Award ($5,000), Massox for best written business plan ($5,000) and Monitus Medical for best technology award ($3,000).
— Viviane Vo-Duc