The Hult Prize Foundation transforms how young people envision their own possibilities as leaders of change in the world around them. With a US$1,000,000 global startup prize as its anchor activity, the Hult Prize has brought impact-focused programs, events and trainings to over a million students globally, creating a pathway for youth everywhere to take action to build a better world.
The Hult Prize Foundation been called the ”Nobel Prize for Students” and has been featured in a TIME Magazine Cover Story highlighting the “Top 5 Ideas Changing the World.”
The Hult Prize is home to the world’s largest college and university network for impact. The OnCampus Program operates on over two-thousand college campuses on five continents and is made up of students, university administrators, professors and alumni who participate in the program as mentors, speakers and sponsors for events, workshops and startup competitions which are organized under the Hult Prize Banner.
The Hult Prize 2021 challenge
your school's event & register your team
your start‑up idea
to Regional Summits
The Hult Prize Foundation is a global learning platform that enables the new generation to deliver social change through education and entrepreneurship. Focused on impact and youth empowerment, the organization runs six key programs, across six continents - all of which are designed to ignite social entrepreneurship amongst youth around the world. Programs leverage Hult’s long history in immersion and action-learning, having trained more than one million university students on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, soft skills, human-centered design and the future of business over the past decade.
Students from any college or university in the world are invited to form teams of 3-4. You are considered a student if at the time of application submission, you have not yet graduated. Alumni and faculty are not allowed to be official team members.
A broad range of resources are made available to students who decide to enter the Hult Prize, including one-million dollars in start-up capital to the winner along with an ecosystem that includes mentors, judges, enablers and others via the Hult Prize Accelerator.
No. An idea is NOT required to participate in the Hult Prize, as the objective is to build the next big start-up, not necessarily to identify it.
Hult Prize provides a tool-kit to get started on building your social enterprise through the form of a case study. All you have to do is download the case study and get started.
The target social impact area of focus / theme for the Hult Prize changes every year. The 2020/21 theme will be announced in the summer of 2020.
Regional Summits for the Hult Prize are held in cities around the world in March and April and are not restricted to geographic location, so any team can participate anywhere. Historically the Hult Prize Accelerator and Global Finals have been hosted in Boston, London and New York City. Keep posted for upcoming updates!
Teams can apply online for entry into the Regional Summits through hultprize.org or compete in a locally organized Hult Prize On Campus event, where the winner will bypass the application round and be guaranteed a place into one of +25 Regional Finals.
The general application window closes in December 2020. Hult Prize On Campus events are completed by December 19th, 2020. Regional Summits take place in March and April 2021. The Hult Prize Global Accelerator takes place in the summer 2021 and the 2021 Global Finals will happen in September 2021.
Each Regional Summit winning team advances to our Hult Prize Global Accelerator for a chance to qualify to our Global Finals.
Hult Prize OnCampus is a global program for the Hult Prize, where local university competition winners automatically advance into one of the +25 Regional Summits.
Students. The program allows student leaders on campus to organize their own, localized version of the Hult Prize, using a turn-key tool kit. Students interested in becoming their Campus Director should sign up to receive more information.
Yes, teams are not limited to entering the Regional Final nearest to their school. However, clearly the additional travel and accommodation costs and visa implications must be taken into account.
Students will be responsible for any travel costs associated with competing in the Hult Prize. Fundraising and university support is common.
Local events provide the university student body an opportunity to bypass the general application round and advance directly into the Hult Prize Regional Summits while better preparing students for the next round of competition. Last year, five out of the six global finalists came from the Hult Prize On Campus rounds. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, the overall champions were On Campus winners.
One of the most important parts of being an entrepreneur is the ability to raise funds. Historically, selected teams have not had an issue coming up with the funding required to attend one of our regional events. Often times universities afford the costs associated with travel and lodging, and in other cases teams have crowdfunded their way to the city of their choice. Think of this as the first challenge you will face as an up and coming start-up.
Hult Prize On Campus is global program run by the Hult Prize Foundation with full time, dedicated staff in place to support Campus Directors and their events.
Hult Prize On Campus events are open to all students from the organizing university only; this includes undergraduate, graduate and PhD programs. Alumni and faculty are not allowed to be official team members.
All Hult Prize On Campus events for the 2020-2021 cycle must be completed by December 19, 2020.
Teams that compete in their local Hult Prize On Campus competition and do not win can still apply to participate in one of +25 Regional Summits through the general Hult Prize application window, which is open through December 2020.
Team sizes, rules and regulations of Hult Prize On Campus will in general conform to the overall Hult Prize competition, while specific modifications per circumstance will be allowed
A minimum of 10 competing teams must register and compete, for the Hult Prize On Campus event at your university to be considered official. Exceptions may be made but must be pre-approved. A full listing of participating Hult Prize On Campus host universities will be published on December 2020.
An event consists of three main criteria:
1. Teams pitch their start-up solution to the challenges outlined in the case document
2. Judges watch and score each of the pitches and engage in Q&A
3. Selection of a winner based on the criteria provided.
Tool-kits will be provided to Campus Directors and include a turn-key website, digital marketing materials, suggested operating manuals, judge and student recruiting aides along with the case study and scoring matrix.
All Campus Directors will qualify for over 25 incentives, amongst which include meeting Hult Prize Global Final judges and our Founder and CEO Ahmad Ashkar along with a trip to our Global Finals.
Hult Prize On Campus events will be ranked on four criteria including: number of teams that participate, types and number of judges recruited, media articles around your event and an X factor activity.
