Watch UNH’s top student entrepreneurs and innovators pitch their business plans to a panel of industry-leading judges in the 33rd annual Paul J. Holloway Prize Competition on Thursday, May 13. While the audience will be virtual, the event is being broadcast live from the Paul College auditorium, where the student teams will present their business plans from the stage in a professionally filmed production. More than $30,000 is at stake, with the winning team taking home $15,000 to launch their business to the next level. Audience members also will have a pivotal role in choosing the People’s Choice award-winning team.
Visit the Holloway Championship Round web page to learn more and register to attend virtually.
The competition was founded with a generous gift from the Holloway family in 1988. When it first began, the Paul J. Holloway Prize Competition, aimed at encouraging entrepreneurial passion and innovative ideas for businesses, had what would be considered standard business ideas: a plan to launch a babysitting service, an idea for a dog-walking business, and the like.
More than 30 years later, the competition ideas have become much more advanced to address today’s challenges, with student teams competitively clamoring for a chance to bring their big idea to market. The annual event recognizes students who conceptualize, develop and pitch the most compelling proposals to bring a product to market and awards students thousands of dollars in cash and prizes every year.
Now, thanks to a recent gift from the competition’s original founders and funders, Anna Grace and Paul Holloway, that tradition of innovation will live on indefinitely. Recently, the Holloways invested $1.6 million through planned giving to endow their namesake competition. The Holloways believe that by ensuring the competition lives on after them, they are modeling behavior for their children and grandchildren to give back in the future.
“It’s not about what you have in your bank account or your pocket, it’s about the difference you make,” says Anna Grace.
Read more about the Holloways and their gift in IMPACT, our donor publication.
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Written By:
Michelle Morrissey ’97 | UNH Magazine | michelle.morrissey@unh.edu
