20 ultimate business/entrepreneurship competitions for middle and high school students
By Sarena Y, Editor of MehtA+ High School Thriving Guide
It’s exciting to start your own startup isn’t it? Some competitions help you do just that!
For students interested in majoring in business or starting their own company or non-profit one day, business and entrepreneurship competitions are a great way to learn more about fields they are passionate about. To participate in an AI + Visual Arts Startup Pitch Competition, consider registering for MehtA+ AI in Visual Arts Camp.
Here is a list of business/entrepreneurship competitions you might want to consider participating in or preparing for this summer.
1. DECA
Starting off with the most popular club/competition in high school business, DECA allows high-schoolers to learn skills for their future pursuits, lead, compete in business events, and discover the world. DECA is known for competitive events that are aligned with the National Curriculum Standards in the career clusters of marketing, business management and administration, finance, and hospitality and tourism.
Age: High School Students
DECA winners looking super excited!
2. Conrad Challenge
Over the course of the year, teams of 2–5 students and a coach will go step-by-step through the entrepreneurial process and design an innovation that solves an important problem. Challenge categories include CyberTechnology & Security, Aerospace & Aviation, Energy & Environment, Health & Nutrition.
Age: High School Students
3. The High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge
HSUEC is the high school counterpart of the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge, one of the largest collegiate competitions in the country. Students form teams to create a business proposal based on an innovative idea. The team’s submitted presentation should include the following: a problem, a proposed solution, a targeted audience/customer and a physical prototype.
Age: High School Students
Students participating in the HSUEC must create a prototype of their product!
4. FBLA Middle School Competitive Events
The National Awards Program, also known as competitive events, recognizes and rewards excellence in various business and career-related areas including but not limited to Business Ethics, Elevator Speech, Leadership and Multimedia & Website Development.
Age: Middle School Students
5. National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge
The National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge consists of an eight-month-long series of business plan and pitch competitions that take place at the local, regional and national levels, culminating in a high-stakes national championship in New York City. Each competition round is judged by a panel of experts that includes business leaders and successful entrepreneurs.
Age: High School Students
There are several rounds to the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge!
6. GSEA
The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a business while attending college or university. At the Global Finals, students compete for a total prize package of US$100,000 in cash, with first place receiving US$50,000. Second place receives US$20,000 and third place, US$10,000. Graduating high school seniors can start thinking about operating a business.
Age: Undergraduate and graduate students
7. Cooper Hewitt Design Competition
The Cooper Hewitt Design Competition challenges high school students around the country to use design and data to support their community. The data can come from an official source, or you can collect information by talking to people or observing the world around you. If you are into designing a creative solution for problems, this one is for you!
Age: High School Students
In the Cooper Hewitt Design Competition, high school students use data and design to support their community!
8. Blue Ocean Competition
This virtual pitch competition for high-schoolers, the Blue Ocean Competition, prepares high-schoolers for the real world of entrepreneurship competition while empowering them to create blue ocean businesses in over 146 countries.
Age: High School Students
9. Diamond Challenge
As the world top rated entrepreneurship competition, the Diamond Challenge provides a unique opportunity for teens to learn about entrepreneurship while putting their ideas into action. While many entrepreneurship programs focus on principles of small business management, the Diamond Challenge focuses on unleashing creativity, encouraging a mindset of abundance and self-determination, and promoting purposeful entrepreneurial action.
Age: High School Students
In the Diamond Challenge, teens can put their ideas into action.
10. Young Tycoons Business Challenge
The Young Tycoons Business Challenge (YTBC) is one of the most impactful and novel business plan competitions launched in 2021, engaging aspiring high-school entrepreneurs from across the world. Teams get a chance to learn from globally renowned industry experts and faculty and leverage our resource materials, case studies, webinars, boot camps, mentorships and support teams to take their entrepreneurial ideas further.
Age: 8th graders and High School Students
11. Wharton Global High School Investment Competition
The Wharton Global High School Investment Competition is a free, experiential investment challenge for high school students and teachers. Students work in teams of four to seven, guided by a teacher as their advisor, and have access to an online stock market simulator.
Age: High School Students
Learn how to invest for the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition!
12. tecBRIDGE High School Business Plan Competition
The HSBPC challenges high school and home school teams to create a STEAM based business. Teams will conduct research in key areas required to build a successful business and tell their business story through a formal written response and presentation.
Age: High School Students
13. SAGE competitions
SAGE provides a tiered approach to learning how to use entrepreneurship to solve global challenges. The competition provides a robust curriculum to guide students through the process, creating the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders to better the global community.
Age: High School Students and Undergraduate students
At SAGE, students learn how to use entrepreneurship to solve global challenges.
14. Wisconsin High School Business Model Competition
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Alta Resources Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation presents students in Wisconsin the opportunity to present an idea/solution for a problem that could/has lead to a business.
Age: High School Students (Grades 10–12)
15. Pirates Pitch competition
The Pirates Pitch competition teaches high school students entrepreneurship basics and idea generation and recognizes and rewards students with outstanding entrepreneurial know-how.
Age: High School Students (Grades 10–12)
The checks these Pirates Pitch receive are pretty cool!
16. Youth Competition
The Youth competition offers young entrepreneurs the opportunity to work on their ideas and to exchange ideas, thoughts on entrepreneurship, and the challenges they face in a global community. Participants are invited to submit their ideas and projects with social impact and to make a concrete commitment to one or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to implement them.
Age: 13–29 year old
17. GENIUS Olympiad for Business
GENIUS Business raises awareness of environmental values in the business world, from bringing green products and services to market to developing a social responsibility plan for any business aiming to have a positive relationship with society and the environment in which it operates. Each GENIUS Business project can be prepared and presented by up to two students.
In the prestigious international competition — GENIUS Olympiad, projects focusing on environmental issues from students in grades 9 through 12 are selected to compete for a chance to win medals and prizes in the following categories: Robotics, Science, Business, Visual and Performing Arts, and Writing. Medals and awards from Genius Olympiad are one of the world’s most recognized programs organized annually by Terra Science and Education.
Age: High School Students (Grades 10–12)
There are a lot of different categories in the GENIUS Olympiad!
18. The BUILD Design Challenge
The BUILD Design challenge empowers students to take action as they work to develop innovative solutions for their communities. The challenge provides all training and materials for students and schools.
Age: Middle School and High School Students
19. The Paradigm Challenge
The Paradigm Challenge is an ongoing competition that invites students around the world to use kindness, creativity, and collaboration to help solve real-life problems and make a difference. Top 100 entries win up to $100,000!
Age: 4–18 years
The Paradigm Challenge Grand Prize winners walking the Red Carpet!
20. Rise
Unlike many traditional applications, Rise uses videos, projects, and group interviews so applicants have multiple opportunities to showcase their potential. For applicants without access to technology, Rise offers alternative low-tech pathways through web-browser and paper applications.
Applicants introduce themselves through videos, create an individual project that demonstrates their talents and benefits their communities, and peer review other applicants’ projects, among other activities.
Age: 15–17 years old
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Good luck! Happy innovating!
