Grow Hays Puts $2,400 in Cash Prizes on the Line for Student Founders

Grow Hays, Inc. will hand out $2,400 in cash prizes at its annual Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on Tuesday, November 10, at the Fort Hays State University Memorial Union in the Black and Gold Room.

The Hays, Kansas economic development organization runs the competition in partnership with Network Kansas. Local students develop business ideas, write business plans, and pitch their concepts to a panel of local business professionals. Beyond the prize money, participants get practical reps in entrepreneurship, public speaking, and business development — the kind of experience that usually costs money rather than paying it out.

This year's stakes are slightly richer than the cash pool alone suggests. The Fort Hays Entrepreneur of the Year Scholarship adds another $500 to the table. The FHSU Entrepreneurship Department selects the winner, and it isn't purely a numbers contest: the award recognizes an individual who, in the organizers' words, "demonstrates entrepreneurial potential and embodies the spirit of Victor E. Tiger" — the FHSU mascot.

What's on the table for students?

The competition layers several awards on top of each other:

• $2,400 in total cash prizes split across the competition winners
• A $500 FHSU Entrepreneur of the Year Scholarship, chosen by the FHSU Entrepreneurship Department
• A $200 People's Choice Award, decided by public vote at the trade show

That puts the full award pool at roughly $3,100 in cash and scholarship value — meaningful money for a high-school-age founder, especially in a market where a first inventory order or a booth at a local market can run a few hundred dollars.

Can the public get involved?

Yes, and the organizers want them to. The student trade show runs from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., with the award presentation following at 12 p.m. Students will showcase their products and services through interactive trade show booths, and some participants may have items available for purchase on the spot.

Attendees can do more than browse. Grow Hays encourages visitors to talk with the young entrepreneurs, learn about their business ideas, and cast a ballot for their favorite venture as part of the $200 People's Choice Award. In effect, the public becomes a second judging panel — and an early customer base for students testing whether anyone will actually pay for what they've built.

What does this change for the local business scene?

For practitioners in Hays, the event is a low-cost scouting opportunity. The trade show puts the region's youngest pipeline of founders, complete with working products, in one room for two and a half hours. Local business professionals also sit on the judging panel, which doubles as direct contact with students who may be running real ventures within a few years.

For students, the format mirrors what they'd face later: a written plan, a live pitch, and an audience that votes with its feet — and its wallet. The November 10 event closes the loop with an immediate award presentation at noon, so winners walk out the same day with cash, scholarship money, or both.

Grow Hays and Network Kansas have positioned the challenge as an annual fixture, which means this year's participants and attendees can expect the same pipeline of ideas, prizes, and public voting to return next fall.