For the past six years, the Spiro Center has sponsored the annual South Carolina Collegiate Entrepreneurship Award to recognize and encourage student entrepreneurs across the state. The winners of the competition receive a cash award (currently $2,000 for first prize and $1,000 for first runner-up). Applications are reviewed by a panel of judges and are evaluated on creativity of concept, profit performance, potential to create job growth and wealth, and innovative methods of management. The winner and first runner up are recognized for their achievements at the state-wide U.S. SBA Small Business Week luncheon each year.

Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to enter this competition. Each applicant must be a current full-time student at a South Carolina institution of higher education or have been a full-time student during at least one semester of preceding year, and the business must have been in operation while the applicant was a full-time student during that time period.

Over the competition’s six-year history, twenty-nine collegiate business owners have entered the competition. These include students at the state’s three major public research universities (Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina); the Citadel military academy; private colleges including Anderson College, Columbia College, Erskine College, Presbyterian College and Wofford College; and a number of two-year technical colleges.

Each year, the competition receives applications from a wide variety of businesses, ranging from internet-based specialty sales ventures to landscaping and construction companies. For five of the six years, a Clemson student has taken first place. The winners from each year’s competition are:

• 2000: James Haltiwanger of Clemson University with AmeriTrack, Inc. and NuDay Media, an alumni tracking websites business and a web services business, respectively
• 2001: Ravin Prashad of Presbyterian College with Acoustics for Less, an internet-based guitar sales company
• 2002: Adam Witty of Clemson University with TicketAdvantage, a business that matches event ticket seekers with holders of unused season tickets
• 2003: Zachary Rich of Clemson University with ExAact, Inc., a company that sells a proprietary prodect developed for the construction industry that prevents concrete from sticking to metal
• 2004: Shawn Becker of Clemson University with Ocean Edge Landscaping and Ameri-Built Homes, a full-service landscaping business and a home construction business, respectively
• 2005: Mike Garcia of Clemson University with P.S.I. Motorsports, a compact sports car modification company