$25,0000 Video Competition Announced By NACCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Heather Van Sickle
vansickle@nacce.com
(413) 306-3131 ext. 303

$25,0000 VIDEO COMPETITION ANNOUNCED BY THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

5 Colleges Will Win Cash Prizes with 3-Minute Videos Focused on Engaging Alumni in Entrepreneurship Education

Springfield, MA – February 6, 2012 – The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) has announced a $25,000 video competition open to all community colleges across the country. To enter NACCE’s "3 Minutes to Win It: Engaging Alumni Entrepreneurs” contest colleges must submit a three-minute video describing – or better yet, showing – their most innovative, out-of-the-box ideas that bring their alumni business owners back onto their campus to connect with students, support entrepreneurial activities, mentor a new generation of business owners or other activities that support entrepreneurship education.

"We’re focusing on engaging alumni entrepreneurs and business owners in an entrepreneurship education program because this is something that pays big dividends for everyone involved,” said NACCE Executive Director Heather Van Sickle. "Students and would-be business owners who are participating in credit or credit-free entrepreneurship education programs benefit from seeing role models and having mentors. The alumni get to give back to their communities, which is something many people are eager to do. And the college benefits because alumni that are engaged with the college are more likely to become donors or to sponsor programs.”

Prizes
The Coleman Foundation, a Chicago-based foundation that has been a long-time supporter of entrepreneurship education and of NACCE, has provided NACCE with $25,000 to award to the colleges that produce the five best videos. Prizes are as follows: 1^st place, $10,000; 2^nd place, $6,000; 3^rd place, $4,000; 4^th place, $3,000; and 5^th place, $2,000.

"These funds may be used to launch new alumni outreach initiatives, to enhance or scale-up current initiatives, or to better use and analyze existing alumni data,” said Van Sickle. "The five winning colleges’ videos will be posted to the NACCE website as part of the award announcement to enable other community colleges to benefit from the ideas presented. We will also be posting ‘Honorable Mention’ videos so we’ll have a thorough library of ideas to share.”

Entrants are required to address one or more of these questions in their video:

• How is your community college reaching out to alumni entrepreneurs?
• How could your college improve how it engages with its alumni entrepreneurs?
• How are your alumni entrepreneurs making a difference at your community college?
• How does your innovative promising practice increase entrepreneurs’ engagement at your college?
• How does your idea or promising practice create buzz and broader exposure of your college’s commitment to entrepreneurship?

Deadline
Videos must be received by NACCE by March 30, 2012. Winners will be announced in the first week of May. For details, visit http://www.nacce.com/?page=3MinElevatorGrants.

About NACCE
The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), which celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year, is an organization of educators, entrepreneurs, and distinguished business development professionals providing quality programs and services in entrepreneurship education and serving as advocates community-based entrepreneurship.

Founded in 2002, NACCE is at the heart of the "entrepreneurship movement.” Through membership, an annual conference and exhibition, a quarterly journal, monthly webinars and podcasts, a dynamic list-serv, and other resources, NACCE serves as the hub for the dissemination and integration of knowledge and successful practices regarding entrepreneurship education and student business incubation. These programs and courses advance economic prosperity in the communities served by its member colleges.

NACCE is a founding member of the White House-led Startup America Partnership. For more information, visit http://www.nacce.com. Follow NACCE on Twitter at @NACCE and like the NACCE – National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship page on Facebook.

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