Georgetown students competed in the annual Georgetown Entrepreneurship Challenge (GEC) Finals on April 8, winning thousands of dollars in prizes. 

The GEC is an annual competition open to Georgetown undergraduate and graduate students where students pitch a new venture idea to an expert panel of entrepreneurs and business leaders. 

Judges scored teams based on feasibility of the business idea, team abilities, the company’s incorporation of Georgetown’s Jesuit values, and the overall persuasion of the business pitch. 

Cash prizes totalled over $50,000 thanks in part to Appdrop, one of the companies involved in Georgetown Entrepreneurship’s recent Georgetown Startup Accelerator.

This year’s winners were: 

$10,000 Graduate Grand Prize: Cradl by Allison Cavasino (MBA’22) and Natalie Poston (MBA’21) 

$2,500 Graduate Second Place: MM-SEAS by Nathaniel Gilman (SCS’21)

$10,000 Undergraduate Grand Prize: Convenient Compost by Gracey Owen (B’22)

 $1,000 Pelton Environmental Prize: Convenient Compost by Gracey Owen (B’22)

$20,000 Appdrop Tech Credits: Convenient Compost by Gracey Owen (B’22)

$2,000 People’s Choice Award: Cradl by Allison Cavasino (MBA’22) and Natalie Poston (MBA’21) 

$2,500 Undergraduate Second Place: ACTWorldly by Nora Bolster (C’23) and Betsy Ratliffe (F’23)

$1,000 Finalists: 

• Budeli by Jinsung Bach, Carlos Bello, and Michael Pollinger; 

• Charting History by Kai Isaia; 

• College Deposit Insurance by Blake Gattuso; 

• Homemade in DC by Lauren Jordan Mackenzie Loy, Chidozie Obidegwu, and Michael Schapiro, 

• Kitchen With a Mission by Jordan Foley; 

• MergedMed by Pia Bhatia and Maya Silardi; 

• Neurazio Biotechnologies by Daniel Chapman; and 

• Refillanthropy by Brandon Lee.

In addition to cash prizes for entrepreneurs competing in the challenge, Georgetown Entrepreneurship presented Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards to the students, faculty, and staff who have shown a selfless commitment to improving the state of entrepreneurial education at Georgetown University in the past year.

This year’s winners were: 

Patricia Henriques Outstanding Mentor Awards: Howard Eisenberg, EiR and Ryan Croft, EiR

Undergraduate Student Entrepreneur of the Year: Rebecca Cox (F’23)

Outstanding Entrepreneurship Faculty: John Jabara, EiR

Graduate Student Entrepreneur of the Year: Jennie Nwokoye (SCS’21)

Outstanding Entrepreneurial Leadership Awards: Austen Brower (MBA’21), Dustin Hartuv (C’21), Megan Nguyen (F’22), Natalie Poston (MBA’21), and Arianne Price (MBA’21).