2023 GCEC Awards
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The GCEC awards are designed to showcase and celebrate the very best of university entrepreneurship! We are excited to read about the great achievements of university entrepreneurship programs and proud to recognize them. Each year, the GCEC recognizes the top entrepreneurship programs in nine categories. Whilst each category will typically have one overall winner, the judges may decide to award “Highly Commended” to some finalists.

In addition, schools may nominate an individual for the GCEC Legacy Award. The GCEC Legacy Award recognizes an individual for a lifetime of “pioneering work in advancing entrepreneurship in universities and/or directing a university entrepreneurship center that created a legacy impact on the field of entrepreneurship”.

Finalists and winners will be announced at the 2023 GCEC Conference from Oct. 5-7 at The University of Texas, Dallas. The awards ceremony and dinner are set for Saturday, October 7. A leader from your entity must be registered for and attend the conference to receive an award. You can nominate your entity in multiple award categories. A panel of judges, led by past winners and current GCEC members, selects the award recipients.

For questions, please contact one of the following:

Gurpreet Jagpal, Chair

GCEC Awards Committee

Email: g.jagpal@uos.ac.uk

OR

Holly DeArmond, Executive Director

GCEC

Email: holly.dearmond@rice.edu

Categories

This document outlines the awards criteria (application and judging) for all categories. Of note, three of the award categories there offer two tracks under which submissions will be judged:

1. for smaller schools with 5,000 or fewer students, and

2. for larger schools with more than 5,000 students.

Judges this year may award two awards in these three categories:

  • Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center
  • Outstanding Student Engagement and Leadership
  • Nasdaq Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence

Rules

  • Each Nomination is limited to 3 pages (PLUS, a cover page with contact information), and should be submitted through the Reviewr platform.  All documents should be submitted as PDF files.  An Appendix and/or Supplemental information (maximum 10 pages) should be provided and must be appended to the 3-page Nomination, and sent as a single PDF file. The total PDF file should be no more than 14 pages (cover page, 3-page nomination, and 10-page appendix) and no more than 10MB.

  • One exception is the Nasdaq Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. The nomination can be up to 5 pages (plus cover page and 10-page appendix). The total page count maximum for the Nasdaq application with appendix is 16 pages and 10MB in size.

  • Center Directors should submit nominations for the category that they believe best fits their Center’s accomplishments. It is a Center Director’s responsibility to evaluate the category that can best be articulated in terms of their Center’s focus, achievements, and purpose. A university may apply for awards in multiple categories, if they believe they have strengths in multiple categories.

  • Awards in each category will be made to the centers that demonstrate exceptional achievement within the category. Whilst each category will typically have one overall winner, the judges may decide to award “Highly Commended” to some finalists.

  • Awards will be announced and presented at the annual GCEC Conference.

  • A leader from your Center must be registered for and attend the conference to be considered for an award. 

  • Centers/Schools are not permitted to bid for the same category for up to 5 years after winning.

  • Winning schools may be asked to have a representative on the Award Judging Committee to evaluate nominations the following year.

Preparing the Nomination

The following guidelines are designed to facilitate a fair and simple basis for nominations, review, and award selections.

  • Identify the specific category for which the center is nominated. Identify the center and university names as well as contact information for the center director, planned conference attendee and the individual submitting on behalf of the center. Unfortunately, if the category is not clearly identified, the nomination will not be considered.

  • In all responses, please clearly indicate the center’s role in highlighted activities, and/or specific relationship to the center of individuals, programs, or activities that are highlighted.

  • Be sure to address each item in the nomination criteria, even if the answer is N/A. Once these specific items have been addressed, you may add information that you think is relevant, however it must tie to the category in order to be considered. This should be done in no more than 3 pages.

Appendix

  • Many Award Categories have suggested or required appendix materials. The appendix is limited to 10 pages, including the suggested materials according to the Award Category.

  • The appendix should be appended to the 3-page Nomination and submitted as a single PDF document, together with the 3-page nomination. The maximum combined file size is 10MB.

  • If you choose to submit optional information in the appendix, we recommend that you include examples of programs, initiatives or courses that visually capture what you have described in your 3-page nomination. You may include PDF’s of marketing materials, fact sheets, collateral, brochures, PowerPoint files, flyers, testimonials, photographs, or other information that supports your nomination. Do NOT simply use the appendix to include additional text about your program.

  • Also, when including supporting materials, please be sure to clearly indicate how the items relate specifically to the award category. Ad hoc materials that do not specifically tie to criteria requests will be excluded from evaluation and may negatively affect the evaluation.