2026 Phillips County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge

2025-2026 Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge Series March 10, 2026

Phillipsburg, KS

Mar 10

Business application deadline: February 20, 2026
Judge sign-up deadline: —
Entry fee: Free

Description

Welcome to the Phillips County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (YEC)—a countywide competition designed to inspire the next generation of innovators, problem-solvers, and business leaders. Students will develop a business concept, create a formal business plan, deliver a professional presentation, and showcase their ideas in a public tradeshow-style format.

Prize Breakdown

1st Place: $750
2nd Place: $500
3rd Place: $300
4th Place: $250
5th Place: $150
Best Presentation: $150
Best Trade Show: $150
Nex-Gen Marketing Award (Pending): $150

Competition Components

Business Plan & Financial Plan
Participants must upload their completed business plan and financials to VentureDash prior to competition day. Judges will review submissions in advance to score and prepare targeted questions.
Formal Presentation
Students will present their business idea to a panel of 3–5 judges. Presentations must be a minimum of 3 minutes and may not exceed 5 minutes.
Tradeshow Presentation
Students will also display their business concept in a tradeshow-style setup. While the tradeshow is traditionally incorporated into the formal presentation, all trade show displays will be showcased by each school and PCED for public viewing after the competition concludes.
PCED provides trifold display boards to all participants unless students prefer to create or supply their own. (Contact PCED for display examples!)

Schedule and key dates

January 7 – Introduction to YEC & VentureDash; selecting and refining business ideas
January 14 – Business Description & Marketing Plan development
January 21 – Production/Manufacturing planning; Management & Partnerships
January 28 – Financials section
February 4 – Financials continued
February 11 – Tradeshow planning & Presentation development
February 17 – Final edits to executive summaries; continued work on tradeshow and presentation
February 20 – Executive Summaries DUE; VentureDash registration deadline
February 25 – Tradeshow preparation and presentation run-throughs
March 2 – Final prep for tradeshow setups and formal presentations
March 9 – Final day for questions
March 10 – YEC Competition Day

Organized by

Billie Knowles

Date & time

Tue, March 10, 2026 starting at 8:30 AM CDT

Address and location

647 7th Street
Phillipsburg, KS 67661

Components

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary is a written business summary, in PDF format, including de...

Weight: 33.3%

Formal Presentation

The Formal Presentation is a four-to-six-minute presentation where each business...

Weight: 33.3%

Tradeshow

The Tradeshow is a 90-minute event where businesses will have the opportunity to...

Weight: 33.3%

Leaderboard

Watch them go! The leaderboard reflects all scores that have been approved by the competition’s host.

The leaderboard is not finalized until every score has a checkmark.

= Not scored = In progress = Complete

The best way to run a business competition.