Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup
The Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup is a Business plan competition that is held annually for Nevada collegiate and graduate students to compete. In sum there are nearly $110,000 in cash awards and the turnout increases yearly - in 2009 174 students (98 undergraduates and 76 graduate students) comprising 32 undergraduate groups and 76 groups of graduate students entered. If a team has a single graduate student it is considered a graduate level team for purposes of entering the competition. The contest is typically broadcast over a wide variety of formats including television, the radio and the internet. Unfortunately for the students who participate in the program, their business plans are not a secret, but community-wide businesses are able to learn from the students' innovation.
Students are allowed to enter from differing backgrounds. Participating students have entered from majors in business, engineering, speech pathology, journalism and biotechnology and have mixed cultural and technical diversities.
Students from The University of Nevada, Reno and The University of Nevada Las Vegas compete against students from statewide community colleges such as The Sierra Nevada College, Truckee Meadows Community College and the College of Southern Nevada
In the contest there are three different categories which students may enter. The first is the Governor's Cup which is for standard business plan entries. The second is The Lieutenant Governor's cup which is co-sponsored by the The Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the award is given for the business plan that best employs clean, renewable or efficient energy technologies and services. The NCED Commissioner's Award is awarded for the business plan that best addresses the economic development needs of rural Nevada.
The top two winners in each category (undergraduate and graduate) compete in the Tri-State Reynolds Cup against winners in Arkansas and Oklahoma for a further $90,000 in prize money.
2009's Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker is Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons and the Master of Ceremonies is Lt. Governor Brian K. Krolicki.