Article I: Official Rules and Regulations
A. Categories
1. Students: Must be enrolled in a public, private or home school, a technology center, or a university.
2. Community: Open to all community members.
B. Individuals/Teams
1. A participant can compete individually, though we encourage teams of 2 or more participants.
2. Student Teams: To be enrolled as a student team, all members must be enrolled in a public, private, or home school, a technology center or a university.
3. Students may reach out to other universities and schools to fill their teams.
4. No person can be a member of more than one team participating in the competition.
5. A business plan that reaches the finals may not be resubmitted in subsequent years. Finalists may participate again, but may not use the same or similar plan that reached the finals.
C. Applications/Qualifications
1. All applications must be the original work of those making the submission.
2. Partially completed applications will not be accepted.
3. All participants must comply with the rules. Any violation of the rules will disqualify an Entrant’s team from the competition, and result in forfeiture of any awards awarded to the team.
4. Applicants risk disqualification if they attempt to approach a judge, or have someone do that on their behalf, in connection with the competition.
D. Business Plans
1. All business plans must be original. All summaries, plans, and presentations must be the original work of team members.
2. Business plans should be no more than 15 pages, plus exhibits. Longer plans will not have an automatic advantage over shorter plans in the judging criteria.
3. Each team must submit their business plan in Adobe PDF (.pdf) format.
4. All business plans will be judged on the criteria outlined under Judging Procedures.
5. Deadlines are final. Out of respect to other teams and judges, no submissions will be accepted after the deadline.
E. Presentations
1. All presentations must be the original work of the presenting team members.
2. The finalist teams will be selected from the pool of submitted written plans and will present to our panel of judges.
3. Final AV presentation files (PowerPoint or equivalent) must be submitted electronically by 4pm the day before the final presentations.
4. Any PowerPoint (or equivalent) presentations will be run on the venue’s A/V PC or on a laptop brought by the team. It is suggested that each team come with a backup of the presentation on a flash drive in case of technical problems.
5. Presentations run for a maximum of 12 minutes followed by up to 10 minutes of question and answer from the judges.
F. Mentors and Judges
1. Mentors and judges may not charge for any services provided during the competition.
2. Mentors and judges may not enter into contracts with any involved teams, individuals, or companies during the competition.
3. The decisions of the judges are final, including interpretation of the rules.
Article II: Competition Procedures
A. Rule Violations
1. Questions about the rules should be addressed to [email protected] for clarification.
2. Suspected rule violations should be reported to [email protected] as soon as possible.
3. The BVLC Executive Committee will confer to determine the validity and seriousness of any reported infraction.
a. Minor infractions will result in a warning to the team or party in violation and possible deduction of points.
b. Major infractions will be reviewed in a hearing before the BVLC Executive Committee and will have the final say on all penalties from rule violation decisions.
c. Infractions that occur during the finals will be reviewed by the judges with the Director of CETES acting as the head of the committee.
d. Appeals regarding rule violation decisions will be decided by the Executive Committee
B. The Mentor Role
1. Mentors are not permitted to write any part of the executive summaries, plans, or presentations. They are asked to act in an advisory role to the team and not write or edit the plans themselves. This ensures fairness to all the teams and maximizes the educational value found in writing a business plan by the students.
2. Mentors are expected to make themselves reasonably available to the team they are assigned to. The selection of phone or face-to-face meetings is up to the discretion of individual mentors and teams, but teams are requested to consult with their mentor at least twice during the competition.
3. If a team is unhappy with their mentor or a mentor is unhappy with their team, they should make every attempt to resolve the issue. If assistance is required, contact with the BVLC Executive Committee at [email protected] is encouraged.
C. Judging Procedures
1. Judges with personal or professional involvement with a member of a team under their evaluation are expected to excuse themselves from that evaluation.
2. Judging will be accomplished as follows:
a. Due to the confidentiality of the plans, judges are not allowed to share the plans outside of the competition.
b. Each judge will carefully read and consider the plans they are provided, and evaluate them on the scale provided to them.
D. Prizes
Prizes and In-Kind Services
A. Categories
1. Students: Must be enrolled in a public, private or home school, a technology center, or a university.
2. Community: Open to all community members.
B. Individuals/Teams
1. A participant can compete individually, though we encourage teams of 2 or more participants.
2. Student Teams: To be enrolled as a student team, all members must be enrolled in a public, private, or home school, a technology center or a university.
3. Students may reach out to other universities and schools to fill their teams.
4. No person can be a member of more than one team participating in the competition.
5. A business plan that reaches the finals may not be resubmitted in subsequent years. Finalists may participate again, but may not use the same or similar plan that reached the finals.
C. Applications/Qualifications
1. All applications must be the original work of those making the submission.
2. Partially completed applications will not be accepted.
3. All participants must comply with the rules. Any violation of the rules will disqualify an Entrant’s team from the competition, and result in forfeiture of any awards awarded to the team.
4. Applicants risk disqualification if they attempt to approach a judge, or have someone do that on their behalf, in connection with the competition.
D. Business Plans
1. All business plans must be original. All summaries, plans, and presentations must be the original work of team members.
2. Business plans should be no more than 15 pages, plus exhibits. Longer plans will not have an automatic advantage over shorter plans in the judging criteria.
3. Each team must submit their business plan in Adobe PDF (.pdf) format.
4. All business plans will be judged on the criteria outlined under Judging Procedures.
5. Deadlines are final. Out of respect to other teams and judges, no submissions will be accepted after the deadline.
E. Presentations
1. All presentations must be the original work of the presenting team members.
2. The finalist teams will be selected from the pool of submitted written plans and will present to our panel of judges.
3. Final AV presentation files (PowerPoint or equivalent) must be submitted electronically by 4pm the day before the final presentations.
4. Any PowerPoint (or equivalent) presentations will be run on the venue’s A/V PC or on a laptop brought by the team. It is suggested that each team come with a backup of the presentation on a flash drive in case of technical problems.
5. Presentations run for a maximum of 12 minutes followed by up to 10 minutes of question and answer from the judges.
F. Mentors and Judges
1. Mentors and judges may not charge for any services provided during the competition.
2. Mentors and judges may not enter into contracts with any involved teams, individuals, or companies during the competition.
3. The decisions of the judges are final, including interpretation of the rules.
Article II: Competition Procedures
A. Rule Violations
1. Questions about the rules should be addressed to [email protected] for clarification.
2. Suspected rule violations should be reported to [email protected] as soon as possible.
3. The BVLC Executive Committee will confer to determine the validity and seriousness of any reported infraction.
a. Minor infractions will result in a warning to the team or party in violation and possible deduction of points.
b. Major infractions will be reviewed in a hearing before the BVLC Executive Committee and will have the final say on all penalties from rule violation decisions.
c. Infractions that occur during the finals will be reviewed by the judges with the Director of CETES acting as the head of the committee.
d. Appeals regarding rule violation decisions will be decided by the Executive Committee
B. The Mentor Role
1. Mentors are not permitted to write any part of the executive summaries, plans, or presentations. They are asked to act in an advisory role to the team and not write or edit the plans themselves. This ensures fairness to all the teams and maximizes the educational value found in writing a business plan by the students.
2. Mentors are expected to make themselves reasonably available to the team they are assigned to. The selection of phone or face-to-face meetings is up to the discretion of individual mentors and teams, but teams are requested to consult with their mentor at least twice during the competition.
3. If a team is unhappy with their mentor or a mentor is unhappy with their team, they should make every attempt to resolve the issue. If assistance is required, contact with the BVLC Executive Committee at [email protected] is encouraged.
C. Judging Procedures
1. Judges with personal or professional involvement with a member of a team under their evaluation are expected to excuse themselves from that evaluation.
2. Judging will be accomplished as follows:
a. Due to the confidentiality of the plans, judges are not allowed to share the plans outside of the competition.
b. Each judge will carefully read and consider the plans they are provided, and evaluate them on the scale provided to them.
D. Prizes
Prizes and In-Kind Services