Innovation breeds competition, and a few Kent State students have been given the platform to make their brightest ideas come true as FlashLab Innovation Pitch Contest Finalists.

On Nov. 29 in Franklin Hall, the eight finalists will deliver their final pitches to a panel of judges for the second round of judging. The contest was designed to help students get their ideas off the ground floor and find innovative solutions to problems in student media.

The top three winners will be given $1,000 in prize money and up to $10,000 in funds to get their idea for student media up and running.

While working on these pitches, some of the finalists decided to pitch their idea to student media regardless of the outcome, as the contest has allowed them to get started on solutions that hadn’t been thought about previously.

“The experience has been great, doing different things, utilizing more research … I wanted to have the data to back up what I’m pitching. It allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and focus more on the quality of what you’re pitching,” said Assata Imani Cheers, a senior communications studies major who is a finalist for the competition and hosts a podcast, “Truth,” that she hopes will be expanded into a larger segment in student media.

The other finalists are Khalil Thompson, a sophomore digital media production major, Haylee Holt, a junior digital media production major, Adam Hluch, a junior digital media production major, Natalie Meek, a senior public relations major, Carter Adams, a junior journalism major and Cameron Gorman and Anna Katsas, a senior journalism major and a junior digital media production major who worked together on their pitch.

The pitch ideas ranged from new content for student media to ideas that encourage collaboration and will be fully developed for the Pitch Competition Final.

The pitches will be delivered to a group of four judges: Craig James, who is the partner and co-founder of Catalyst Strategies, Nicole Bitskay, a sophomore human development and family studies major who placed first in LaunchNET’s Elevator Pitch competition this fall, Zach Mikrut, the program manager at LaunchNET Kent State and Micah Tindor, the solutions integration advisor for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

The pitches will take place in room 213 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

 Jacob Majka is the CCI reporter. Contact him at [email protected].