Ithaca, NY -- The Pillsbury Institute's seventh annual Cornell Hospitality Business Plan Competition has raised the
prize for the first place winner to $25,000 and the overall purse to $37,500, making it the largest competition prize
package for Cornell students exclusively. Second and third place winners will receive $7,500 and $5,000,
respectively. Dr. Susan Fleming, faculty sponsor for the competition, commented "Increasing the prize money aligns
us more with competitions on college campuses across the US and will help us to increasingly attract student teams
with some of the most promising business ideas and plans on campus. Since the inception of the competition, we
have seen the quality of the entries continually improve and more of the businesses actually being launched. We
want to support this success and foster further success."The Cornell Hospitality Business Plan Competition is an
annual event at the School of Hotel Administration that begins in November when student teams are formed and
executive summaries for business plans are developed. The competition ends in March during Hotel Ezra Cornell
(HEC) when finalists present their business plans to an audience of alumni and other industry executives, and
winners are selected. The Business Plan Competition is a meaningful learning experience for students who are
interested in pursuing an entrepreneurial venture and whose ideas serve as new independent ventures in the seed,
start-up, or early growth stages.Students interested in entering the competition can attend the Pizza Social at the
Pillsbury Institute in 289 Statler Hall on October 14 at 4:30 p.m. to learn more about the competition and network
with other students interested in participating. The institute has streamlined the registration and submission process,
and judging of the competition with the addition of PitchBurner. The competition is open to all full-time
undergraduate and graduate students.