The Laker Effect Challenge builds on the idea of the collective impact of the Grand Valley community on our faculty, students, staff, West Michigan, our state and beyond, and emphasizes our passion for learning and using knowledge for positive change and public good.

The Laker Effect Challenge encourages, recognizes and rewards innovative projects led by GVSU faculty, students and staff engaged with the community. Submissions can be from individuals, or groups at GVSU working in collaboration with a community partner. Students must work in conjunction with a GVSU Faculty/Staff member, as the department will receive the funding and distribute it to the winner as a reimbursement. Projects should be aimed at addressing a real problem, need, issue, or dilemma, and demonstrate leadership and advocacy aimed at shaping the future. Ideas can be at any stage of development or any form of scholarship. Finalists are selected from all submissions to present their ideas to the public and a panel of judges. Finalists have the opportunity to win up to $3,000 from a pool of $5000 in prizes to those projects deemed to potentially have the most positive impact.

The GVSU Laker Effect Challenge is intended to foster GVSU's creative and scholarly engagement in all its forms through publicity, recognition, and financial support. It’s about having an impact on the community in innovative ways! Adding to this is the opportunity to receive funding for a project that may have limited channels to that important implementation capital.

All current GVSU faculty, students (graduate and undergraduate), and staff can participate in the Laker Effect Challenge.

And all are invited to attend the pitch competition event - bring your friends, too!

GVSU faculty, students and staff can submit a one-paragraph description of their project/ideas to the Laker Effect Challenge online application for public viewing. Students must work in conjunction with a GVSU Faculty/Staff member, as the department will receive the funding and distribute it to the winner as a reimbursement. There is no restriction on the type of idea that can be submitted. Once entered, the Laker Effect Challenge allows the public to vote for ideas that they are most interested in seeing move forward. Each voter is allowed a total of 1 vote. Top vote-getters are reviewed by the Laker Effect Challenge Committee and reviewed for a chance to become one of the presenters at the Laker Effect Challenge event. 

We are expecting that the projects will reflect multiple facets of our community, and therefore the Challenge does not prescribe a set format. However, the presentations will need to address the judging criteria:

• What is the problem you are trying to solve?
• How does this problem affect our community?
• How are you proposing to solve it?
• What is the requested funding, how will you spend it, and what impact will it have?

The selected presenters will have 5 minutes to demonstrate why they should be awarded.

From the finalists presenting at the event, there is not a predetermined number of winners. There will be a pool of $5,000 in total award available per event, and the maximum single prize is $3,000. The judges will allocate the prize money based on Laker Effect Challenge criteria. There could be anywhere from 2-5 winners.