Future Founders Announces Entrepreneurship Awards Event for Chicagoland Universities

January 19, 2017

Future Founders is excited to announce a new initiative to highlight the work and effort of the most entrepreneurial universities in Chicagoland. The 1st Annual EntrepreneurshipU Awards, to take place on April 18 in Chicago, will recognize individual students, faculty, clubs, and entire institutions for exceptional innovation in a number of categories. Future Founders is accepting nominations for a diverse collection of awards, including Student Entrepreneur of the Year, Entrepreneurship Professor of the Year, Social Entrepreneurship Initiative of the Year, and more.

The event is intended to be an opportunity not only for universities to showcase student talent, but for students and their startups to earn public attention for their efforts. “There are incredible efforts taking place on campuses right here in Chicago to drive entrepreneurship,” says Katie Sowa, Senior Director of Startups at Future Founders. “We hope this provides a platform to provide recognition to these students, their startups, and the faculty members that support them.”  

Further notable is the inclusion of a number of categories for high school entrepreneurship. Nominations are available for High School Student Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as High School Entrepreneurship Teacher of the Year, and High School Entrepreneurship Course of the Year. “High schools and their students are vital components of the local innovation ecosystem” says Ethan Adams, Manager of Startup Development at Future Founders. “Our organization sees proof on a daily basis that innovation is taking place with students in high school and even earlier.” The vision is that bringing together students and faculty from so many institutions, at both the high school and college level, will strengthen collaborative ties between the most entrepreneurial individuals and institutions in the area.

Future Founders intends to host the EntrepreneurshipU Awards on an annual basis, recognizing the most current and promising innovators of each year.

Nominations are open now and close on March 9 at 5:00pm CST. Candidates can be submitted by visiting https://futurefounders.com/startup/entrepreneurshipu, and tickets to the awards ceremony itself may be reserved here.

Anyone interested in learning more about the event, including sponsorships for future opportunities, may contact Katie Sowa at katie@futurefounders.com.  

The complete list of awards available for nomination include:

• Entrepreneurship Professor of the Year
• High School Entrepreneurship Teacher of the Year
• Undergrad Collegiate Entrepreneurship Course of the Year
• Graduate Entrepreneurship Course of the Year
• High School Entrepreneurship Course of the Year
• College Student Entrepreneur of the Year
• High School Student Entrepreneur of the Year
• Student Startup of the Year (up to 5 winners)
• Entrepreneurial Student Leader of the Year
• Entrepreneurship Club of the Year
• Marathon Award (Who came back from the biggest failure?)
• Campus Entrepreneurial Event of the Year
• Social Entrepreneurship Initiative of the Year

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EntrepreneurshipU is a collaborative effort among Future Founders Startup and founding school partners: Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University Chicago, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Roosevelt University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Future Founders Startup is a dynamic platform to engage, equip and empower collegiate entrepreneurs. Through the program, Future Founders brings together dozens of universities, incubators, community organizations and businesses and curates resources to help young entrepreneurs succeed. The program promotes cross-school collaboration and increases the capacity of university programs by broadening their reach into the community. Future Founders Startup is generously supported by Capital One, The Coleman Foundation, The John E. and Jeanne T. Hughes Foundation, Keywell Foundation, Motorola Solutions Foundation and Accenture.