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What are the judges looking for?

The judging panel will be looking for the same elements that a potential investor would look for. Fundability will be a major criterion and there are important new selection criteria in this year's competition based on the company's new equity requirement. Full details of the selection criteria are available in the Official Rules and Entry Kit, available when you register.

Who can enter?

The competition is open to companies based on the island of Ireland. There are two new categories this year:

i. Emerging International Company, and

ii. Emerging Company

To be eligible for the 'Emerging International Company' category the company must:

(a) Not be in existence for more than five years at 28th September 2007, and

(b) Have a new equity requirement in excess of €300,000/£200,000 over the next three years to develop the business further and generally

(c) Have already achieved or have a target of substantial international sales (in the next 3 years)

To be eligible for the 'Emerging Company' category the company must:

(a) Not be in existence for more than three years at 28 September 2007, and

(b) Have a new equity requirement less than €300,000/£200,000 but more than €75,000/£50,000 over the next three years and generally

(c) Have already achieved or have the potential to achieve sales mainly on the Island of Ireland and the UK.

The competition is aimed at independent ventures to be incorporated on the island (Ireland or Northern Ireland) in the seed, start up or early stages of their development. Entrants should have started, manage and own such a venture. Ventures which have already raised private equity in excess of €1m/£700,000stg are not eligible.

How to enter

Entrants must first register to receive the Official Rules and Entry Kit.
These should be read carefully as they include important information on what your business plan should contain and details of new selection criteria. Having registered entrants must then submit their business plan. The deadline for return of business plans is 5pm on Friday 28th September 2007.

Why enter?

In addition to the prize money, the competition offers entrepreneurs and early stage businesses the following opportunities:

• Accelerate the development of your business idea.
• Improve your business plan both from the preparation involved and from investors' suggestions.
• Learn how to present business plan concepts to panels of investors.
• Gain exposure to venture capitalists and other investors.
• Increase the profile of the business through publicity generated from entering the competition.

The prizes

The All-Island winners will receive a prize payable by installments based on achieving key performance indicators in the business plan of €100,000 (for the winner of the Emerging International Company category) and €50,000 (for the winner of the Emerging Company category) to finance the early stages of the venture. Six regional winners will each receive €20,000 to finance the early stages of their ventures. There is also an award of €10,000 for ventures stemming from university spinouts and platform programmes.

The selection process

After the closing date on Friday 28th September 2007 all business plans will be grouped into the region and category they have entered. The four regions (with two categories in each) are as follows:

1. Dublin (city and county )
2. Northern Ireland
3. Munster
4. Connacht plus counties Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal and Leinster (excluding Dublin)

Following the scoring of written business plans submitted, the top plans from each region and category will be selected. In November 2007 the selected entrants will be invited to make a short presentation to a panel of judges followed by a question and answer session. On this basis winners will be selected for each of the four regions and two categories. These eight (four in each category) will be asked to make their presentation again to a separate panel of judges at the final on 29th November 2007. This panel will select the overall All-Island winner in each category.

The overall winner in the Emerging International category will receive a first prize of €100,000 and the overall winner in the Emerging category will receive a first prize of €50,000. The remaining six regional winners will each receive a prize of €20,000 and the winner of special award for University spin-outs or platform programmes will receive €10,000.