Category: Uncategorized

ENTRY DEADLINES EXTENDED

Post author By Liane Morris
Post date August 27, 2024

It’s official. We said we wouldn’t extend our deadlines this year, but we know that quite a number of the schools that normally participate in the Young Business Mind Awards are having issues with the September date and we really don’t want anyone to miss out!

The new date for entries is Friday October 25.

BUT …

Enter early by October 14 & WIN!

If you want to be in the running to win one of 20 free passes to this year’s Hunter Innovation Festival you need to get your entries in by Monday October 14 and be prepared to attend the festival on Thursday October 17. These passes are valued at $250 each. If you win and can’t attend, please let us know so that we can share the opportunity with someone else.

The awards night will be held on Tuesday November 12 at the I2N – University of Newcastle Q Building on Honeysuckle with Ryan Muir, entrepreneur and CEO of RAM Manufacturing as MC & Guest Speaker. Ryan is a member of the manufacturing committee of Hunter IF, the organisation behind the Hunter Innovation Festival, and is a passionate supporter of youth innovation programs such as YBMA.

We can tell you that we have already surpassed last year’s number of entries so this year should be an absolute cracker!

We’re excited to see what you’ve got for us.

Tags Entrepreneurs, Hunter young Business mind awards, HYBMA, Innovators, Young Entrepreneurs

HYBMA 2024 Uncategorized

How it works…

Post author By Liane Morris
Post date May 28, 2024

Are you looking to inspire your students with an exciting project that sets them up for success? One that can lead to business and industry mentorship and that recognises and rewards efforts to make our world a better place?

The Young Business Mind Awards is open again this year and has partnered with the Hunter Innovation Festival to create opportunity and resources that encourage our young people to look to the future with positivity, to foster a sense of entrepreneurship and an awareness of the skills necessary for success in the world.

The YBMA has been providing a showcase opportunity for children and young people under the age of 25 to develop entrepreneurial projects since 2017. Young people are encouraged to enter a business idea, design a new product or showcase a creative project for a chance to win cash prizes, school recognition, industry mentorship and participation in this year’s Hunter Innovation Festival.

Primary students are encouraged to take on a class project exploring ideas around Sustainability.

Secondary students and under 25s can work as individuals or in groups across the categories of Sustainability, Social or Business Enterprise, Creative Industries or Design and Technology. It’s about taking a step closer to a future where their ideas can make a difference.

HOW IT WORKS

Step 1: Decide that you’re going to pursue this as a great project for your students (or yourself – there are teacher awards too) and register here. If you register before 31 May, you could win one of 10 $30 cash gift cards. Registration is only so that we have an idea of who is working towards their entry and how many participants we are likely to have and is not a barrier to entry.

Step 2: Familiarise yourself with the resources available online here. And the entry requirements (Secondary; Primary; Teacher).

Step 3: Talk to your students about the awards and start researching your big ideas, determining what category each student/group is entering as you go (Sustainability for Primary students; Sustainability, Business, Social Enterprise, Creative Industries, Design & Technology for Secondary students).

Hints: The awards are called the Young Business Mind Awards – the idea is to showcase an innovative new idea/business/product within your chosen category. Many existing school projects will fit the bill without much extra work entailed. How can you take your idea and create a business or product from it? What problems can you solve? Use the resources available online.

INVITATION – this is the point at which we invite you to reach out and request a visit from one of our team. We are happy to come along and present to your students for 30 minutes or so, explaining the awards and inspiring big ideas. Please reply to this email before June 7 if this is something you would like to take advantage of – we are offering this to 15 schools only.

Step 4: Award applicants should prepare a simple pitch deck explaining their project and produce a short 2 minute video to submit by Sept 3. The resource page on our website contains a pitch deck template, an idea builder for primary students, curriculum links for teachers, and a digital magazine for teens that contains useful content.

Step 5: Attend the awards ceremony, tentatively scheduled for Sept 24 to find out if you’ve won or been a runner up! Enjoy your prizes – we can arrange mentorship by appropriate businesses or industry leaders, incursions, excursions, attendance and participation in the Hunter Innovation Festival, there’s cash, trophies and certificates.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out and talk to us (email us at ybma@careerlinks.nsw.edu.au. Put your hand up for a visit. We want to make this as easy and rewarding for you as we can. We really believe that events like these help to foster the skills and networks our young people are going to need to be successful in the future and we’d love your students to be a part of it this year. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Tags Careers, Entrepreneurs, Hunter young Business mind awards, HYBMA, Innovators, YBMA, Young Entrepreneurs

HYBMA 2024 Uncategorized

Prizes for YBMA 2024

Post author By Liane Morris
Post date May 28, 2024

Prizes for YBMA are a bit different this year. We want to bring more value to the school, teachers and students. The biggest change is the collaboration with the Hunter Innovation Festival and the opportunity for students to attend and even participate in the festival. The addition of business and industry mentorships will be facilitated through Hunter IF and sponsors.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Primary Schools enter the Sustainability Category as a classroom or as individuals. There will be one winner and one runner up with some encouragement awards.

Primary Winner/s will receive:

School – $200 + Primary School Trophy

Entrant/s – $50 cash card + medallions & certificates

Invitation to attend the Hunter Innovation Festival valued at $249pp

Runners up & Encouragement Awards will be medallions & certificates.

SECONDARY SCHOOLS/UNDER 25S

Secondary Schools and Under 25s enter as groups or individuals in the categories of Business, Social Enterprise, Sustainability, Design & Technology and Creative Industries. There will be one winner and runner up from each category with some encouragement awards.

Secondary / Under 25s Winner/s will receive:

School – $200 + Category Trophy

Entrant/s – $50 cash card + medallions & certificates

Invitation to attend the Hunter Innovation Festival valued at $249pp

Runners up & Encouragement Awards will be medallions & certificates.

OVERALL WINNER

This year we’ve decided to award an overall winner. The overall winner can be awarded from either Primary, Secondary or Under 25s.

Overall Winner will receive:

School – $500 + Secondary School Trophy

If not in school, Under 25s – $500 seed funding + Trophy

Entrant/s – $100 cash card + medallions & certificates

Invitation to Hunter Innovation Festival valued at $249pp

Opportunity to pitch at the Hunter Angels Pitch Event as part of Hunter Innovation Festival

TEACHERS

And we never forget our teachers, who can enter for innovation in the classroom. There will be one winner and one runner up with a possible encouragement award.

Winner will receive:

School – $500 + School Trophy

Entrant – $100 cash card + Trophy & certificate

Invitation to Hunter Innovation Festival valued at $249pp

Runners up & Encouragement Awards will be medallions & certificates.

In addition to the above prizes there will also be mentorships, incursions, excursions etc offered through sponsor organisations and/or the Hunter Innovation Festival. We are looking to showcase the winners at the festival and invite a panel of young people to participate.

Tags Careers, Entrepreneurs, Hunter young Business mind awards, HYBMA, Innovators, YBMA, Young Entrepreneurs

HYBMA 2024 Uncategorized

YBMA Winner Success

Post author By Liane Morris
Post date May 28, 2024

The Young Business Mind Awards (YBMA) has launched this year’s search for young innovators and entrepreneurs. The YBMA has been providing a showcase opportunity for children and young people under the age of 25 to develop entrepreneurial projects since 2017.

Young people are encouraged to enter a business idea, design a new product or showcase a creative project for a chance to win cash prizes, school recognition, industry mentorship and participation in this year’s Hunter Innovation Festival. Primary students are encouraged to take on a class project exploring ideas around Sustainability. Secondary students and under 25s can work as individuals or in groups across the categories of Sustainability, Social or Business Enterprise, Creative Industries or Design and Technology. It’s about taking a step closer to a future where their ideas can make a difference.

Last year, a group of six Year 8 students from Hunter School of Performing Arts (HSPA) won the Social Enterprise category for their innovative accessible self-checkout design. The exposure from the event has propelled their project forward, and they are now collaborating with Woolworths who is piloting its own accessible self-checkout design. The students will be travelling to Sydney to meet the design team behind it with the trip being funded by the winnings from YBMA.

“Winning the YBMA was a transformative experience for our students,” said Ben Moore, TAS teacher and STEM Project Officer at HSPA. “It not only validated their hard work, but the support and recognition also opened doors to incredible opportunities to collaborate with industry leaders.”

The YBMA is presented by Career Links, the organisation behind the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Career Expo and the Work Placement Program. The team are also collaborating with the Hunter Innovation Festival, the premier platform for showcasing innovation in our region.

Ryan Muir, CEO of RAM Manufacturing, and a member of the Advanced Manufacturing Action Summit group of Hunter IF is thrilled to be collaborating with YBMA.

“This partnership marks a pivotal moment as two great organizations join forces to nurture the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs by providing them with the resources and recognition they need to succeed,” said Ryan.

All the information about the awards can be found at www.ybma.com.au/about-the-awards/. Entries close on Sept 3.

Tags Careers, Entrepreneurs, Hunter IF, Hunter Innovation Festival, Innovators, Success Stories, YBMA

Uncategorized

Startups @ School

Post author By Liane Morris
Post date April 12, 2024

Young Business Mind Awards (YBMA) is proud to have I2N Integrated Innovation Network, a part of the University of Newcastle as one of our long-term partners. Did you know that they offer presentations and workshops for year 9 and 10 students on entrepreneurship?

This year we will be working with our partners to provide our teachers and schools with more resources to enable and grow participation in the YBMA because we believe that innovation and entrepreneurship are critical to our future – and that supporting our young people to develop skills in these areas is our duty.

I2N Startups @ School presentations and workshops are presented by leading I2N Startup founders, to inspire a future generation to reimagine what they can achieve in their career. Each program features one I2N Startup founder who, through sharing their story, will give the students a first-hand insight into the life of an entrepreneur.

The program is designed to be flexible and can be delivered at your school (from classes to year groups) or at the University of Newcastle’s Q Building in Newcastle (up to 60 students). There are two options to choose from – the 30-minute option which is perfect for assemblies and career days, featuring a presentation from a local startup founder or the 60-minutes option which also incorporates an interactive workshop into what entrepreneurship is and what the first steps look like once you have an idea.

This program fits seamlessly into the YBMA as it provides the perfect foundation for students to develop the confidence to problem solve, to understand how innovation and entrepreneurship work and to have a go at developing their own BIG IDEA to enter into the awards.

If you are interested in inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs through a Startups @ School presentation or workshop, you can find more information at newcastle.edu.au/startups-at-school or contact Tayla Furey, Program Coordinator, (High Schools) at Tayla.furey@newcastle.edu.au or phone +61 2 49217410. Along with participation in YBMA, it begins a solid foundation in the study of entrepreneurship, business studies and career preparation.

Tags Careers, Entrepreneurs, Hunter young Business mind awards, I2N, Innovators, YBMA, Young Entrepreneurs

Uncategorized

Inspiration to Innovate – Corbin’s Story

Post author By Liane Morris
Post date July 31, 2023
Sticky post

Corbin Breckell was just 11years of age when he won second place in his age category in the 2022 Hunter Young Business Mind Awards for his innovative business idea. Corbin’s business idea was called ‘Cool Fire’ and combined his Aboriginal cultural heritage with environmental and sustainable practices.

Corbin participated in the gifted education Virtual Academy program and was encouraged by his teachers at St Columbus Primary School in Adamstown to enter his research project in the awards. Inspiration came from an awareness of the growing bush fire danger due to climate change and his understanding of his Aboriginal ancestral (Wailwan, Kamilaroi and Guringai tribes) burning practices.

Corbin’s business idea, Cool Fire, is an Aboriginal cultural burning workshop for children aged 8 and over. Participants learn about the cultural burning practices of lighting ‘cool’ fires – lower temperature fires – in a controlled, safe manner to burn off excess growth, reducing the fuel that causes out of control bush fires. The lower temperature fires retain the seeds and roots required for new growth and do much less damage to the bush and wildlife.

Corbin’s two-minute video pitch, required as entry into the awards, explained that he chose the name Cool Fire because not only is the fire run at a lower temperature, but the idea is kind of ‘cool’ and fun. The pitch includes details of what workshop participants would learn, the fact that a portion of the proceeds would go to support the Karrkad Kannjdji Trust which aims to protect and restore the West Arnhem Land Plateau and the employment opportunities for indigenous people.

Corbin recommends entering the awards to others. “I felt excited that I came 2^nd,” said Corbin. “I was given the opportunity to grow the idea further and received a generous prize that will help me achieve my dreams. I haven’t spent the money yet, but I have started reading about businesses and investing. I learnt that a little idea can go a long way. Even young people can have an idea that can change the world.”

Entry into the awards is simple with a 2-minute video and a pitch deck required. Many schools are already running entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainability programs that can easily be adapted for entry – and with Design and Technology and Creative Industries also added to the category list this year, there is plenty of opportunity for students from any school to enter and have a go. Details can be found at https://ybma.com.au/.

To view Corbin’s video pitch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FMafsARmvE and to read more about it, the Newcastle Herald ran a story: Hunter student recognised for research into cultural burning | Newcastle Herald | Newcastle, NSW

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