Students at the University of Essex are taking part in a new national award scheme established by Santander Universities to discover the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Essex has been chosen to take part in the Santander Awards of Entrepreneurship as it is a Santander Partner University and over the past month students have been submitting business ideas for the competition.

The strongest entry will be put forward by the University for the national awards with a panel of judges selecting the five finalists from across the country in each category.

Finalists will present their ideas to the judging panel plus a representative from Santander at the company’s UK headquarters in London.

The top three Undergraduate and Postgraduate candidates will then receive cash prizes to help them develop their ideas with the winners receiving their awards from Santander UK chief executive Ana Botin at the Santander Universities Gala Event in July.

The winner of the undergraduate category will receive £5,000 with the best postgraduate proposal receiving £20,000.

Student Enterprise Manager Charlie Wheeldon said: “These new awards pioneered by Santander Universities support our continuing efforts to encourage entrepreneurship and the development of key business skills amongst our students.

“We have had a lot of excellent entries from students and those submitting their ideas have had to think through important issues including their target audience, business strategy and the potential market.”

For more information contact Charlie Wheeldon by email at cwheel@essex.ac.uk