Prizes
Track Specific Prizes
Vertical 4 Tracks:
- 1st place winners selected from these tracks will each win $10,000.
- 2nd place winners selected from these tracks will each win $7,500.
- 3rd place winners selected from these tracks will each win $5,000.
Explorer Track:
- 1st place will win $1,500.
- 2nd place cash prize $1,000.
- 3rd place cash prize $500.
*Winners of cash prizes will have one year to register as an LLC to claim the money.
Specialty Prizes
- Specialty prizes will reflect the skills and values of the NVC program.
- Winners will be chosen by the OIE staff and Round 3 judges.
- Best Customer Discovery Prize
The Best Customer Discovery Award recognizes a team's outstanding customer discovery through the GW Team Development (MIR) Program. This award honors the quality, depth, and strategic application of insights gained from customer interviews.
Prize: $5,000
- Best Market Assessment Prize
The Best Market Assessment Award is given to the team that presents the most comprehensive understanding of their market—its definition, dynamics, and trends—and clearly connects this insight to the development of their value proposition.
Prize: $5,000
- Best Financial Understanding Prize
The Best Financial Understanding Award recognizes a finalist team that demonstrates a clear, thoughtful, and well-structured approach to startup financials, economic principles, and revenue projections. This prize is awarded to the team that effectively showcases a strong grasp of cost estimates, income projections, financial sustainability, and overall economic viability in their NVC application and presentations. The winning team exhibits a deep understanding of their financial model, providing realistic and well-supported financial strategies that set the foundation for a successful venture.
Prize: $5,000
Sponsored by: Ken Shimberg & Strategic Investment Group
- Best Storytelling Prize
The Best Storytelling Award recognizes the team that crafts and delivers a compelling, creative, and cohesive narrative. Honors ventures that effectively communicate their vision, impact, and value proposition in a way that is memorable, emotionally resonant, and aligned with their brand identity.
Prize: $5,000
- Viewer's Choice Award
The Best Video Award recognizes the finalist team whose 30-second video delivers the most creative and compelling visualization of their business thesis. The video should clearly communicate the value proposition, capture attention, and showcase the team's innovation and storytelling abilities. The winner will be determined by the highest number of audience votes—reflecting not only the strength of the video itself, but also how effectively the team marketed it.
Prize: $500
- Spirit of NVC Prize
The Spirit of NVC Award recognizes a finalist team that embodies the core values of the New Venture Competition—dedication, curiosity, enthusiasm, evolution, and self-awareness—throughout the competition journey. Selected by the Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (OIE) staff, this award honors a team that demonstrates resilience, a commitment to learning, and a willingness to adapt and grow as entrepreneurs. This prize celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation and success beyond the competition.
Prize: $5,000
Sponsored by: Greg Wong
- Global Impact Prize
The Global Impact Prize is awarded to the team whose venture demonstrates strong potential to create measurable and sustainable social impact in an international market. This prize recognizes innovative solutions that address global challenges and improve lives beyond U.S. borders.
Prize: $5,000
Sponsored by: Michael Quinn & Q Advisors
- NextEra Innovation in Sustainability Prize
The NextEra Prize is awarded to the team whose venture offers a promising solution to sustainability challenges such as climate change, waste reduction, environmental preservation, or clean energy. This prize honors innovative ideas with the potential to create lasting environmental impact.
Prize: $5,000
Sponsored by: NextEra
In-Kind Prizes
- Blank Rome LLP
Blank Rome is a full-service nationwide law firm with 16 offices and over 750 attorneys. Peter Weissman specializes in patent and trademark law, and has been a long time supporter of the GW New Venture Plan competition.
Prize Description: Blank Rome is awarding a select NVC team up to $15,000 in in-kind legal services for patent and trademark support. Please note that this award covers legal fees only and does not include additional costs such as government filing fees. Additionally, the award cannot be used in cases where a conflict exists with a current Blank Rome client.
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- GW Office of Integrative Medicine & Health
The Office of Integrative Medicine & Health (OIMH) at George Washington University advances whole-person health through interdisciplinary research, education, and clinical innovation. Our mission is to bridge integrative medicine with conventional care, fostering evidence-based approaches to resilience, well-being, and optimal health. Through collaborative initiatives, we develop programs that empower individuals and healthcare professionals to implement integrative strategies for lifelong wellness.
Prize Description: The Office of Integrative Medicine & Health (OIMH) is awarding a NVC team with four (4) sponsored podcast episodes to feature their work relating to evidence-based well-being, health & wellness, or integrative medicine. This is a unique opportunity to gain visibility, credibility, and audience engagement within the health and wellness community!
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- Ceemo.ai
Ceemo.ai has helped founders like you raise over $200 million in venture capital. We combine market data & your strategies to create growth-driven brands, then apply them across proven pitch & marketing assets. Like a friendly automated CMO, we help you launch, sell, and fundraise faster.
Prize Description: Ceemo.ai is thrilled to offer six lucky NVC winners with a full year's subscription to Ceemo's branding, marketing & pitching platform, each valued at $1800! With Ceemo, you'll generate a new brand book, complete with wordmark logo, color scheme, and font suite. Then watch your new brand come to life across a suite of proven fundraising, sales, and marketing assets. Coming in April, you'll also have access to CeemoChat, your friendly automated CMO! Ceemo's unique AI chatbot can help you craft more compelling stories & strategies, fueling your fundraising & sales efforts. This prize is perfect for GW students ready to turn their winning business concepts into a reality, creating the proven foundational marketing you need to launch, sell, and fundraise with ease.
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- Social Driver
Social Driver is a leading digital creative agency based in Washington, DC and with offices across the United States.
Prize Description: The winners of this exclusive prize get a digital strategy consulting session, a unique chance to tap into the expertise of Social Driver's award-winning team. The session will be tailored to the needs of the winner. Whether navigating the intricacies of social media, overcoming digital marketing challenges, or crafting innovative solutions, the session will provide expert guidance. In fact, Social Driver's co-founders, Thomas Sanchez and Anthony Shop, won the award over a decade ago and are thrilled at the opportunity to continue to support the 2024 New Venture Competition.
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- Klo Marketing
Katie Lopus, the founder and President of Klo Marketing, is an award-winning digital marketing expert with over a decade of experience specializing in social media strategy, corporate consulting, and LinkedIn trainings for some of the world’s biggest brands.
Prize Description: Three selected teams will each receive a one-hour personalized social media strategy session with digital marketing expert Katie. During the session, teams will dive into a comprehensive digital marketing strategy brainstorm, receive LinkedIn branding tips and tricks, explore content planning and community-building tactics, and walk away with actionable next steps to drive traffic and generate revenue. In addition to the call, each team will receive tailored social media resources to help implement their strategy and elevate their digital presence.
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- Draper University
Draper University is a world-renowned entrepreneurship program founded by venture capitalist Tim Draper. Its Hero Training program is an immersive, high-energy startup accelerator designed for aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage founders. Over the course of several weeks, participants gain hands-on experience, mentorship from industry leaders, and the mindset needed to build and scale groundbreaking companies. Hero Training empowers founders to take risks, innovate, and become the next generation of industry disruptors.
Prize Description: Draper University, founded by renowned venture capitalist Tim Draper, offers its transformative Hero Training program—an immersive, high-energy startup accelerator designed for aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage founders. Over five weeks, participants gain hands-on experience, mentorship from industry leaders, and the mindset needed to build and scale innovative companies. As part of this in-kind prize, one team member from each selected startup will be fast-tracked to the final round of interviews for a chance to receive a full scholarship to the Hero Training program.
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- Scendea
Scendea is an international product development and regulatory consulting group serving the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Our expert team offers strategic and operational support in the fields of Non-clinical, CMC, Clinical, and Regulatory to successfully guide products from early development to marketing approval.
We are committed problem solvers, redefining the meaning of customer service, with a focus on reducing time-to-market and minimising development costs. Our scientific excellence, industry experience, and collaborative approach enable us to deliver high-quality innovative solutions aligned with jurisdiction-specific regulatory requirements.
At Scendea, we collaborate, innovate, and together with our clients, we succeed.
Prize Description: Scendea will provide 1 x 1.5 hour workshop to 5 prize winners. To prepare for each workshop, Scendea requests that the prize winner signs a mutual CDA before providing background information on product type, indication, and therapeutic area. Scendea also asks that the prize winner submits a list of 6 questions 2 weeks before the planned workshop date for Scendea to address in the session. Workshop dates to be defined and agreed by Scendea.
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- Ne Taba International
Ne Taba International (NTI) is dedicated to advancing peace, equity, and social impact globally by strengthening the public health workforce and inspiring ethical leadership. NTI has reach in over 25 U.S. states and 29 countries, offering programs that promote authenticity, innovation, collaboration, and sustainability. NTI collaborates with various partners to deliver value-driven solutions and supports minority and women-owned business participation.
Prize Description: Ne Taba International is offering one finalist team a Social Impact Consultation Package which will include strategic advising over the course of 3 months. The package includes evaluation design; assistance in development of social impact indicators; identification of 5 pilot funding opportunities; application to 1 grant application; 2 rapid consults; 1 grant writing intake session; and assistance in hosting a potential investor event.
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- Adalci Law
Adalci Law was founded by Binta P. Mamadou to provide small and medium-sized businesses with high-quality legal services traditionally offered by big law firms. As a boutique law firm led by an entrepreneur, we understand the importance of balancing a business' unique commercial objectives with its legal needs.
Prize Description: Adalci Law is proud to support the next generation of entrepreneurs by offering a three-part legal workshop series exclusively for the Top 12 teams in the 2025 GW New Venture Competition. These interactive sessions will equip founders with foundational legal knowledge essential to building and protecting their ventures. The series includes a comprehensive 1.5-hour workshop on choosing the right business structure, covering entity types, legal requirements, liability, and tax implications tailored for startups. A second session provides an overview of the key legal documents every startup needs to understand and have in place. The final session is an open legal Q&A, offering participants the chance to ask business-related legal questions and receive general guidance from experienced legal professionals. This in-kind prize offers valuable legal insight and empowers founders to make informed, strategic decisions as they grow their ventures.
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