What participants say …

Hoopla Rack,
third place and $4,000,
2008 Schoofs Prize for Creativity;
third place and $700,
Tong Prototype Prize;
and Younkle Best Presentation Award

“Through the whole process, I actually began to see my design turn into a prototype, and now my prototype might actually become a patented reality. By the end, I was so happy that I had chosen to take a chance on myself and do something that brought my engineering and hooping life together.”

—Danielle McIntosh

Pen Smart,
$1,000 Judges’ Award for Special Merit,
2008 Schoofs Prize for Creativity

“I thought of this product two years ago—I wrote it down and kind of forgot about it for awhile. And I realized that if I didn’t do it, I’d always regret it, so I just decided to pursue it. The competition is a great outlet for anyone interested in innovation and development. The experience gives you the tools to develop the idea and the confidence to continue.”

—Daniel Gartenberg

Innovators in the news …
articles about past competitors

Baseboard Booster

Baseboard Booster: A collapsing stool that fits in the space behind the baseboard of a cabinet.

2005 Schoofs Prize for Creativity second place winner. Lynn Daul, one of the student innovators, also won the Sorenson Design Notebook Award. (large image)

"We started out building a wood model and our first prototype was totally different than this. We found out that a lot of our stuff wasn't working the way we wanted so we actually made two prototypes. Since we switched to aluminum we also had to make some changes to the most recent one. So the prototype was definitely a key factor in being able to complete this project. If we did not do a prototype, I don't think this would function as well.

We had our doubts as we were making the prototype, but we did a lot of drawing and as we machined it and built it, we figured it out. We are very happy with it. Most of us are in our final year of school and money is thin, so the grant helped a lot."
— Dominic Kasten

Innovators: Ben Jaeger, Natalie Meagher, Mark Webb, Lynn Daul and Dominic Kasten
This entry won second place in the Schoofs Prize for Creativity, and Lynn Daul won the Sorenson Design Notebook Award.