Step One: Addressing the Criteria being Scored

Step Two: Following the Instructions in Formatting the Proposal

Step Three: Ensuring that the Writing Highlights your Work

Step One: Addressing the Criteria being Scored

The President’s Challenge is looking for innovative designs that can be brought to market to solve a problem. This is the Clarkson strategy of entrepreneurship–a strategy of helping yourself by helping others. As a result your proposal needs to include both technological design and market analysis. Your proposal may be stronger in one or the other, but you need to address both.

Note the following key criteria on the Scoring Rubric.

20% Target User/Problem Definition

30% Innovation

20% Impact on Users and Environment

20% Feasibility

10% Overall Report/Poster Quality

The other Clarkson strategy that is part of the competition is multidisciplinarity. Look at the criteria for Innovation and also note the additional points that can be awarded.

#4 Solution integrates concepts from multiple fields/discipline

Step Two: Following the Instructions in Formatting the Proposal

Use the headings required!

Synopsis (don’t use Abstract, or Executive Summary or Introduction)

Background

Project Design

Implementation Plan

Discussion of the Effectivenes of your Project

Conclusion

Use APA format

APA format has requirements for headings, title page, figures/tables, citations. Follow those. You can find those requirements at OWL Purdue-APA Format.

Step Three: Ensuring that the Writing Highlights your Work

Use terms from the rubric like ‘target users’ or ‘sustainability.’

Be sure that your writing is efficient and clear. Make sure there’s no repetition of information and that the information needed in part 1 is given in part 1 and not later in the paper. It helps to have someone NOT on your team read for this!

Have the information where the judge expects to find it and can easily see it. This is best done by using traditional organization styles. As follows:

  • In the Background section move from general Problem to current Solutions, to Problems with current solution to your Solution.
  • In the Project Design section move from bird’s eye view to the nitty gritty.
  • In the Implementation Plan section move from bird’s eye view to chronological order.
  • In the Discussion section begin with your elevator pitch and then support it.
  • In the Conclusion section reiterate the strongest elements of your project and then add a marketing angle whether that is an appeal to the judges or the target users.