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Women entrepreneurs and businesses win a total of $5,000 at the Women’s Pitch Competition.

Veterans Pitch Competition Winners gather together for a group photo at Evansdale Crossing

Five West Virginia small businesses recently competed for cash prizes to accelerate their startups, thanks to the West Virginia University Morris L. Hayhurst LaunchLab and its inaugural Hayhurst Invitational. The invite-only pitch competition was featured in Bridging Innovation Week 2024, and was sponsored by the Hayhurst Family.

The Morris L. Hayhurst LaunchLab hosted its first-ever March Matchness, a unique event that allowed students and faculty from different WVU colleges and schools to connect. At the event, participants had the opportunity to pitch their ideas and skills, compete in innovative games, and find potential business partners.

Courtesy of Alpha Omega Epsilon.

$16,250 awarded to up-and-coming entrepreneurs at the Fall Pitch Competition.

The main event of the weekend included packed crowds and plenty of excitement, but it had nothing to do with football rivalries.

On April 27, 2023, the Morris L. Hayhurst LaunchLab hosted its annual April Arts Festival forstudent creatives state-wide. Five student finalists had five minutes to pitch and five minutes to answer questions from a panel of professional judges, in order to win up to $5000 for their creative artwork which included physical art, virtual ideas, and writing samples.

  On March 30, 2023, the Morris L. Hayhurst LaunchLab hosted its annual March Idea Challenge for student organizations across all WVU campuses. Seven student organizations from WVU and one student organization from WVU Tech had five minutes to pitch and five minutes to answer questions from a panel of professional judges, in order to win up to $5000 for their student organization.

On the weekend of March 3rd, the WVU Morris L. Hayhurst LaunchLab, partnered with the Davis College of Agriculture Natural Resources and Design, and WVU Extension Services to host the 2023 Fashion Impact Challenge. WVU Extension Services and the Davis College host this event to help give high school students the chance to learn more about fashion, design, and entrepreneurship. This event consisted of high school students, who are from the entire state of WV, paired in teams with current WVU students majoring in design, fashion, and merchandising. The challenge called for students to develop an innovative, sustainable, and profitable solution that tackles some of the most difficult challenges within the Appalachian region while relating to the fashion industry.