UPS is having it’s 2nd annual “Out of the Box Small Business Contest” where the 1st place winner receives $10,000 cash (or $10,000 in free shipping - yeah, I dunno, I guess some people would need that), an HP computer (~$2,000 value), $5,000 of UPS consulting, $1000 in document services from UPS Store, plus a free publicity campaign! Not a bad way to keep your business going. 2nd place isn’t bad either, netting a $5,000 prize. That’s alot of money for a small business. A couple notes about it:
- Judging - The criteria is 50% originality, 25% business implementation, 25% business results. So, yes, you need to be a fully operating company (see next bullet).
- Eligibility - Your business must be licensed in one of the 50 states; average revunue must be at least $250,000 and not more than $10,000,000.
- Contest Period - The contest opened on May 1st and goes until Sept 15, 2006. Winners will be awarded on Nov 9.
- How to Enter - Write a 500 word essay and submit it using the online contest form.
- Other Fine Print - By submitting your application, you grant UPS permission to use the company name, trademark and comments for advertising and publicity (of course, this should be in your favor, but who knows).
Doesn’t look like we’ll be entering. We’re not quite at the $250k revenue mark 
Maybe next year…Good luck to all the contestants!
-JC
Other Two-Bit Posts
on May 5th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
I have never heard of this contest before, so thanks for posting about it! The eligibility requirements are kind of high though, don’t you think? Most small businesses that are churning out $250k in revenues aren’t exactly hurting… it seems like the people in the $100k range could use the prize money a lot more. Plus, a $10 mil upper limit? Yeah, like that guy needs 10k!!!
on May 5th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking also. They should either up the prize amount or lower the revenue requirements. But I guess the biggest value will be in the publicity that you get from winning the contest - that would probably help any company.
on Sep 12th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
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