// A national entrepreneurship pitch competition designed for kids – the first of its kind ever in Australia – is now open for entries…
In recent times there has been a greater emphasis on teaching school children kids entrepreneurial skills, such as Carmel School’s Entrepreneurship program which was reported several months ago here on Startup News.
Pitch for Kids 2020 has followed this trend by creating a free country-wide competition designed to educate and inspire Australian school children aged 8-13 about entrepreneurship.
The organisers hope the program helps kids deal with uncertainty and anxiety that is affecting them by providing an opportunity to visualise a future they want to see.
Kids may apply individually or as a team with a sibling or friend, as long as all participants are within the 8-13 age bracket. Whilst parents can help to film and upload the pitch video, the competition is ultimately designed for kids and therefore the kids themselves are expected to come up with the idea and subsequent pitch.
As well as personalised feedback from judges, some of whom work for various innovative organisations such as EY and Google, state finalists each win $1,000.
The pitches will be judged on factors such as the creativity of the idea, communication of the pitch, the problem it solves, value created and the overall quality of the pitch itself.
Jim Schuman, Co-Founder First Pivot, hopes the program plants the seeds for the next generation of problem solvers and entrepreneurs.
“Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship will play a major role in leading the economic recovery both here and abroad. Australia is becoming a breeding ground for entrepreneurship with world class resources and startups that are competing on the global stage,” says Jim
“The First Pitch For Kids competition will help nurture future generations by showing kids that entrepreneurship can be a career path.”
Jim Schuman
With much uncertainty in the world caused by Covid-19 and the subsequent economic downturn, Jim believes the competition is a great way to inspire kids how to shape the future.
“In the midst of a global pandemic and challenging economic times we need to look at how we can inspire our school children to build and create the future they desire. The competition not only offers the chance to win $1,000, but also the opportunity to learn new and valuable skills,”
“Skills that will be in greater demand as we rebuild our economy and return to the new normal.”
Video entries need to be submitted online and should be between one to three minutes with the deadline being October 2nd. State finalists will be notified by October 9th, 2020.
The National Finals will occur at 6pm AEST on October 22 where contestants have seven minutes to pitch their ideas and answer the judge’s questions. The National winner receives $2000.
Additionally, there will be a $500 prize for ‘fan favourite’ decided by an audience poll from the 1000 who will be able to register to watch the event live on Zoom.
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Main Image: Adam Winger, Unsplash
