Edward K. Aldag, Jr.
Student Business Plan Competition

April 8 – 10, 2026

Participant registration
Sign up to judge

Timeline of Events

 

Competition Overview

 

Aldag Coaching Hours

Coaching hours will be added soon.

Register + Draft PowerPoint Presentation Due March 24th

Instructions for Submitting PowerPoint

  • (Pages 2 – 5)
Dr. Welbourne will be reviewing each draft presentation and giving feedback to use for the final presentation.
The Draft PowerPoint submission confirms your plan to compete and is a mandatory requirement for moving forward. Note that the “submitting PowerPoint” instructions include information on how to upload your video; that is due at a later date.
 
NEW THIS YEAR:  After you register, you will receive instructions that allow you to use a custom AI tool to review your PowerPoint that will provide you with feedback. You will receive details on how to improve the document overall, and you will receive scores based on our judge sheets.  You can run your PowerPoint through the tool as many times are you want.  The custom AI engine uses 3 different AI tools and bases the recommendations on the convergence of output from the different analyses. 

Submit You Finalized PowerPoint Presentation + YouTube Video

April 3rd @ 11:59pm CST

Review the following documents for full requirements:

Aldag Competition Opening Round

VIRTUAL – April 8th from 12:30 – 5pm

Round 1: All teams participate in live Q&A with 15 minutes of judge questions via Accelevents

Judges will decide which teams advance to Round Two.

*Note, teams not advancing to Round Two are still eligible to win certain other prizes.

Aldag Competition Final Round

IN-PERSON – April 10th from 8am – 7pm

Round 2: Competition groups will take place simultaneously. Round Two competitors will be given a 25-minute slot and have up to 10-minutes for a live presentation,  and up to another 15-minutes for live Q&A . Judges will then have 5 minutes to take notes before the next team begins. Based on judge deliberations, there could be multiple prize winners within each group.

Winners Announced

April 10th

Note: Teams are encouraged to meet with judges/coaches after the competition for feedback. These interactions can be scheduled through the mentorship module within each StartupWind group.

VIEW THE 2025 WINNERS

What's At Stake

Grand Prize

$50,000

First Prize

$5,000

Second Prize

$3,000

Third Prize

$2,000

Established Concept Prize(s)

Prize 1: $5,000
Prize 2: $3,000
Prize 3: $2,000

New Business Idea
Prize One

Prize 1: $2,500
Prize 2: $1,500
Prize 3: $1,000

New Business Idea
Prize Two

Prize 1: $2,500
Prize 2: $1,500
Prize 3: $1,000

Best Teamwork

$500

Best New Idea

$500

Crowd Favorite

$500

Social Entrepreneur

$500

Alabama Power Foundation Innovation Technology Awards

This year a series of special awards are made possible by the Alabama Power Foundation. The Alabama Power Foundation Innovative Technology Awards for students offer three cash prizes totaling $10,000 ($5,000 first prize, $3,000 second prize, and $2,000 third prize) for the most groundbreaking technology-focused idea.

First Prize

$5,000

Second Prize

$3,000

Third Prize

$2,000

BEST NASA PATENT BUSINESS IDEA

This new award is for a person or team that is recommended as the best business idea for a NASA patent. The goal is to recognize innovation and ingenuity in crafting a viable business idea from the patents.

 

First Prize

$2,500

Second Prize

$1,500

Third Prize

$1,000

NEW AWARDS

THE BOB AND JEAN MERRITT
REPURPOSE AWARD

$10,000

DR. MARK WEAVER
NON-PROFIT / SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

$2,000

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA ATHLETIC ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

Prize 1: $2,500
Prize 2: $1,500
Prize 3: $1,000

Additional awards for all winners

Co-working Space

One year of free co-working space at The EDGE

Free Consulting

Business, accounting, and law partners’ consulting

Entrepreneurship Academy

Ability to apply to the Summer 2024 Crimson Entrepreneurship Academy

PREVIOUS WINNERS

2025 WINNERS
2021 WINNERS
2024 WINNERS
2020 WINNERS
2023 WINNERS
2018 WINNERS
2022 WINNERS
Click here

Questions?

If you are interested in helping out as a coach, judge, or sponsor please complete this brief form and someone from our team will get back to you.

THERESA M. WELBOURNE, PHD

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF AEI
WILL AND MAGGIE BROOKE PROFESSOR IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

tmwelbourne@ua.edu
(205) 348-3343
The EDGE