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2026 Phillips County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge

2025-2026 Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge Series

Phillipsburg, KS

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Business application deadline
February 20, 2026
Judge sign-up deadline
Entry fee
Free
Join this competition

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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 20Executive 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

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%
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Formal Presentation

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

Weight: 33.3%
Edit Formal Presentation

Tradeshow

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

Weight: 33.3%
Edit Tradeshow

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.

incomplete = Not scored in progress = In progress = Complete