Unfortunately, we do not accept entries out of the country at this time.

No. It is open all students across the United States. However, if selected as a finalist, you must be available on the day of Final Competition to present your business idea to the judges in real time. The Virtual Final Competition for students outside of South Dakota will be held via Zoom the day prior to the In Person Final Competition.

Each student and advisor must choose a school in their profile.  For advisors, please use the contact form to email the name of your school, the physical address and phone number and we will add it. For independent students, complete the school information form when prompted to have your school added.  We will contact you once it is added so you can complete your login.  Approving news schools is manual process so please allow time to assure accuracy.  Requests to add a school should be received by 3pm on October 20th so student and advisor accounts can be created by the October 24th deadline.

Students are not required to have an advisor. When students create their login, they should choose Independent Study for the Advisor field if they are not working with an advisor.

If your advisor's name does not appear, please ask your advisor to create an account and then be sure to choose them as your Advisor as soon as possible and BEFORE you submit your entry.

No; only one team member needs to create an account. That team member will be able to add other team members to the entry once a draft of the entry has been saved.

Yes. You can have up to three people on one team.

Click on “Forgot Your Password?” on the login page. You will be asked to enter your email and a new password will be sent to you.

If you are experiencing technical difficulties, complete the form on the Contact Us page and we will email or call you back with a solution. If there are any additional questions you have about the BIG Idea Competition or Final Event, please reference the Rules and Student Checklist forms.

Students and advisors must create an account by October 24.  Completed entries must be submitted by midnight, Central Standard Time on October 31.

Students must be in a high school or home school doing high school studies. The entry for the business idea is a written submission of no more than 1075 words, organized as follows:

• Concept Overview (75 words) See How To Video: Concept Overview
• Product or Service (250 words) See How To Video: Product and Service
• Market Opportunity (250 words) See How To Video: Marketing Opportunity
• Competition (250 words) See How To Video: Competition
• Management and Operations (250 words) See How To Video: Management and Operations

Complete rules can be found on the Rules page under the Competition tab.

Creating a BIG Idea can be challenging to many. We have resources though that can help you start creating your BIG Idea. Check out our Tips to Create Your Business Idea document, How To Video: Tips for Success, and all of our other resources provided on the helpful tips page.

When you fill out your BIG Idea entry form, you will be asked to select an industry that best classifies your business. Please refer to the  North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to find what industry your business is in. You can view the document here. If you are still unsure, ask your advisor or take your best guess.

Be sure to click “Save Draft” often while working on your project. You will be allowed a limited time period for your project to be left open on your computer before it times out. (NOTE: You will not be warned when your window is timed out.) If sharing a computer with another student, save your work and log out before the next student to log in so that your data is not overwritten. DO NOT open two browser windows to work on separate entries on the same computer.

BIG Idea takes plagiarism very seriously. Below are 5 examples of plagiarism as defined by Scribbr. Where the definitions below refer to ‘someone else’s words’ or “someone else’s ideas’, keep in mind that this also includes, but is not limited to, the words or ideas generated by artificial intelligence tools.

“Plagiarism comes in many forms, some more severe than others—from rephrasing someone’s ideas without acknowledgement to stealing a whole essay. These are the five most common types of plagiarism:

• Global plagiarism means passing off an entire text by someone else as your own work.
• Verbatim plagiarism means directly copying someone else’s words.
• Paraphrasing plagiarism means rephrasing someone else’s ideas to present them as your own.
• Patchwork plagiarism means stitching together parts of different sources to create your text.
• Self-plagiarism means recycling your own past work.”

BIG Idea reserves the right to review all entries and disqualify from the competition any entries where plagiarism is found. Applicants will be required to confirm that their entry does not include plagiarism prior to submitting their entry.  Entries identified as potential finalists will be further reviewed with appropriate plagiarism and/or AI checking tool(s).  If plagiarism is found after the competition, the following consequences can be enforced including requesting refund of prize money, rescinding scholarships with institutions, removing reference from Winner’s page or tagging as Disqualified for Plagiarism.

Academic integrity means acting in a way that is honest, fair, respectful and responsible in your studies and academic work. BIG Idea strives for participants of the competition to apply their own values to their work. Applicants are expected to be honest, fair, respectful, and responsible for their own work and to hold themselves to the highest academic standard. Examples of academic integrity could include:

• Do not assume AI responses are always correct.
• Do not plagiarize or use AI verbatim.
• Give proper credit to work that is being used.
• Do not rely on AI tools but rather be mindful and hold academic integrity.
• Using an AI tool to generate content without proper attribution qualifies as academic dishonesty.

BIG Idea respects individual school rules regarding the use of AI. You must follow your school policy regarding the use of AI. BIG Idea will not ban the use of AI software, although competitors should be aware of potential biases in data and algorithms, as well as possible inaccurate information provided by the software. The AI tools used should be in line with the BIG Idea guidelines, to ensure ethical and responsible use of AI, promote fair competition, and uphold the integrity of BIG Idea events.

Applicants should be aware that any work produced by tools is not their own work; all use of AI software must be appropriately credited. Use of AI must not involve any form of plagiarism or unauthorized use of copyrighted materials. Failing to edit information provided by AI in the submission of your entry is considered plagiarism.

Yes, in fact, we encourage it. The more feedback you can receive on your business concept, the better. However, if you were a finalist in a previous years’ BIG Idea competition, you cannot use the same business idea. You can compete with a new idea.

The Student Checklist includes everything students need to do before submitting their final entry. Locate the checklist here.

Those entries that advance from the qualifying round will be judged by 3 1st round judges who include a mix of economic development professionals, business professionals, business owners, educators, and collegiate business students.

Yes. You will receive an overall score and judges’ comments after the Final Competition in December. Feedback will be available through your BIG Idea login once the judging is completed.  Advisors will also be able to access comments through their Advisor Dashboard.

Your business concept must promote Wellness to enter this category. For the purposes of this competition,'Wellness' is defined as a business that supplies products or services to maintain or regain good physical and/or mental health. If your business idea fits in the Wellness Category, select Wellness in the dropdown box in the “Special Award Category’ section of the entry form.

The top 10 finalists for this category will be determined by the scores from the first round of BIG Idea judging. Independent Health Solutions panel of judges will then review those 10 entries and determine the winner of the $500 prize.

Your business concept must promote Agriculture Innovation to enter this category. For the purposes of this competition, Agriculture Innovation is defined as an agriculture business that incorporates innovation, technology and/or leadership into agriculture or agriculture education. If your business idea fits in the Agriculture Innovation Category, select Agriculture Innovation in the dropdown box in the “Special Award Category’ section of the entry form. Must be a South Dakota student in order to participate.

The top 10 South Dakota finalists for this category will be determined by the scores from the first round of BIG Idea judging. The South Dakota Agriculture Foundation's panel of judges will then review those 10 entries and determine the winner of the $500 prize. South Dakota students can only win this award.

Your business concept must promote Hometown Business to enter in this category. For the purposes of this competition, Hometown Business is defined as retail, hospitality, grocery, or trade business that has a physical storefront as well as an online presence (either selling or advertising online). If your business idea fits in the Hometown Business Category, select Hometown Business in the dropdown box in the “Special Award Category’ section of the entry form. This award can only be won by a South Dakota student.

The top 10 in-state finalists for this category will be determined by the scores from the first round of BIG Idea judging. The panel of business owners representing the South Dakota Retailer’s Association will then review those 10 entries and determine the winner of the $500 prize.  In addition to the category definition, judges will also consider the viability of the business idea in a small community (5,000 population or less).

For the purposes of this competition, the Makers Award is defined as a business concept that creates and builds a physical product, which could include a custom product built one at a time or a product that is made in larger quantities. Select Makers Award in the dropdown box in the “Special Award Category’ section of the entry form. Must be a South Dakota student in order to participate.

The top 10 in-state finalists for this category will be determined by the scores from the first round of BIG Idea judging.  Blackout Industries will then review those 10 entries and determine the winner of the $500 prize.

Two final competition are planned.  The Virtual Final Competition for students outside of South Dakota will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.  The in person Final Competition and Awards Ceremony will be held on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at Northern State University.

There are 2 rounds in the BIG Idea competition.  Round 1 determines the finalists and Round 2 determines the winners.  In Round 1, each entry is rated by 3 different judges and those scores will be averaged to determine the final Round 1 score. The top scoring qualified ideas will be finalists who advance to the final competition.  There will be 8 finalists for both the virtual and in person competitions.   The Round 1 judging rubric can be found on the Rules page.

Finalists will be notified mid-November and will be provided with final event details.

The finalists for each competition will be required to make a six minute presentation on their business idea to a judging panel. This block of time will begin with the elevator pitch (30-60 seconds), and the remaining time is for the presentation. A visual component such as a slide presentation, storyboard, handout, demonstration or other visual component of the finalist’s choice is required. Finalists will also give their elevator pitch during the Awards Ceremony. Special category winners will also give an elevator pitch for their idea.  All finalists and special categories winners will be provided detailed instructions once they are confirmed, and they will also be invited to a virtual orientation one week prior to the event.  Most of all we want you to have fun and learn about entrepreneurship!

Specialty Category awards are determined, and notified, prior to the final event. They are invited to participate in the activities at the final event. Specifically, these winners will be asked to give an elevator pitch of their idea at the Awards Ceremony and will be presented their awards during the ceremony.

For the in person event, the finalists will give their presentation to the judging panel in the morning.  Students will have time to visit with their mentors and participate in a variety of activities outside of their presentations. Following a brief lunch program, the Awards Ceremony will be held.  It will include the presentation of Elevator Pitches by the finalists and special category winners, a business owner panel discussion, and the presentation of the awards.

Virtual finalists will be assigned a time slot for the final competition which will include time for set up/testing, presenting their idea and getting feedback from the judges.  The Awards Ceremony will be livestreamed so virtual finalists will be able to watch.

There will be a required virtual orientation meeting for both sets of finalists held one week prior to the final event for more details.

In the final round, a separate panel of judges for each competition will evaluate all eight finalists’ presentations to determine their final rank. Rubrics for the  final judging (Round 2) can be found at the Rules page on the website.

Special Category winners are determined by the award sponsors.

Honorable Mention students will have the opporutnity to present a pitch for their idea the morning of the competition.  All Honorable Mention students will be invited, and spots available will be filled on a first come first served basis.  These presentations will take place in person at Northern State University on the day of the final competition.  Honorable Mention students are also invited to participate in the other activities as well as attend the luncheon and Awards Ceremony.

Absolutely! All schools and students who submitted entries to the BIG Idea Competition are invited to the Final Competition and  Awards Ceremony. During the morning, all students are invited to take in the Honorable Mention pitches and can participate in various activities, booths and tours including the BIG Idea Selfie Contest.  Following lunch, the Awards Ceremony will include a presentation from successful entrepreneurs, and the finalists and special category winners will deliver their elevator pitches. Awards presentations will then be made to all the winners in the Business Idea Competition.   If you can't be in Aberdeen, the event is livestreamed as well.