Students from across the Oklahoma State University campus were awarded a total of $10,000 in scholarships during the annual Pitch and Poster competition hosted by the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

OSU students awarded $10k in scholarships during annual Pitch and Poster competition

Friday, November 3, 2023

Media Contact: Jeff Hopper | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | jeff.hopper@okstate.edu

The Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship recently hosted its annual Pitch and Poster competition on the main Oklahoma State University campus and presented students with $10,000 in total scholarships.

Pitch and Poster competitions are open to any and all students at OSU regardless of major or classification, and provide those students an opportunity to receive constructive feedback on new business ideas or products and win scholarships.

The competition is broken down into three categories: social enterprise, big city/high tech business and main street lifestyle business. The top three finalists are chosen in each category, as well as an overall competition winner and a people’s choice award winner.

“I really enjoy this competition,” said Paula McCullough, Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship program coordinator. “It shows the momentum that these students are gaining from one program into the next that is offered here at the Riata Center. For most, these ideas just began a few short weeks ago when the semester started.”

The category winners and business names were as follows (scholarship amount):

Overall Competition Winner

BlooKooz — Keenan Holsapple — computer engineering and Jack Pitts — sports management ($2,000)

Social Enterprise

First: Piensa Consulting — Dania Crivelli Zavala — business analytics and data science ($1,000)

Big City/High Tech Business

First: 10x Nail Studio — Trevor Fogleman — master of business administration ($1,000)

Second: Memo Spark — Boris Oskolkov — industrial engineering and management, Sjakawat Hossain — business analytics and Bingnan Jason Chen — finance ($700)

Third: Fungimize — Elisa Schultz da Costa Mazzo — finance and Barbara dos Santos — soil science and agronomy ($300)

Main Street Lifestyle Business

T—First: BlooKooz — Keenan Holsapple — computer engineering and Jack Pitts — sports management ($1,000)

T—First: Lady Lifts — Brenda Tapia — marketing management and Skye Schumaker — agricultural business ($1,000)

Second: Palette — Alison Conway — international business and entrepreneurship ($700)

Third: Sweet Tooth Dessert — Ryan Craig — business management ($300)

People’s Choice Award

Fugimize — Elisa Schultz da Costa Mazzo — finance and Barbara dos Santos — soil science and agronomy ($500)

“All of us here at the Riata Center would like to say thank you to all the 2023 Pitch and Poster participants,” McCullough said. “You all worked very hard and showed up to share your big ideas with all of us.”