Pitch and Poster Competition rules and regulations

 

• Entrants must adhere to all competition guidelines and deadlines.
• All participants must be currently enrolled full or part-time OSU students.
• Individuals may be a member of only one team. Teams may be as small as one student, and there is no maximum size. The typical team is usually between two and five members.
• Teams who have raised $50,000 or more in external funding (investor, competitions, etc.) are no longer eligible to compete in the Riata Pitch and Poster Competition. The Riata Pitch and Poster Competition is intended for ideas that have not received outside investments.
• Teams who have participated in the Rising Entrepreneurs track (previous competition track winners) and placed in the top spot from the previous year are no longer eligible to complete in the Riata Pitch and Poster Competition.
• Ideas submitted as part of the team's business must represent the original work of the team. Participants will sign a certification to this effect, as part of the initial entry. If a student is competing with an OSU-owned technology, all applications must be approved in advance by OSU's Technology Development Center and all appropriate parties.
• Participants must be available during the entire competition and at the time of the awards ceremony to be eligible. (Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis for teams with extenuating circumstances)
• Scholarships are directly deposited into participants' bursar accounts. IMPORTANT: Balances on participants' bursar accounts will reduce the amount of the awarded scholarship from the competition.  
• Awarded scholarships may impact financial aid or other scholarships previously awarded. Please check with OSU Financial Aid Office to ensure you are eligible prior to the competition.
• No scholarship awards are directly provided to any competition participants.
• Riata Center staff reserves the right to disqualify in its sole and absolute discretion any participant from the competition at any time for any reason. Reasons for disqualification could include but are not limited to, plagiarism or any form of academic dishonesty, misappropriation or infringement of the intellectual property of others and any failure to comply with competition rules and regulations.  Disqualified contestants shall forfeit all scholarship funds awarded through the competition.  

 

Scholarship and breakdown of distribution

• Overall competition winner:  $2,000
• Rising entrepreneur:  $1,500
• 1st place:  $1,000 (Main Street Lifestyle Businesses, Big City/High Tech Businesses and Social Enterprises)
• 2nd place:  $700 (Main Street Lifestyle Businesses, Big City/High Tech Businesses and Social Enterprises)
• 3rd place:  $300 (Main Street Lifestyle Businesses, Big City/High Tech Businesses and Social Enterprises)
• People's choice:  $500

 

Please note: All submission deadlines are final. Late submissions will not be accepted, and deadline extensions will not be granted for any reason. The Riata Center staff encourages each team to submit their posters early, so any technical difficulties can be resolved before the submission deadline.