The 2022 Accelerator Rap Challenge, hosted by The Cape at Penn State, opens on November 29, 2021. Key dates include:
Submissions open: January 3 – Feb 28, 2022
Virtual Create-a-thon: Feb 25-27
Deadline to submit: Feb 28, 7pm ET
Virtual finale and awards presentation: April 4, 2022
Judges
Charles Alexander, Berklee School of Music, musical/lyrical artistry
Bill Aulet, MIT Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, clarity of entrepreneurship concept
Milton Chen, George Lucas Educational Foundation, educational merit
Monica Lago-Kaytis, Rise Up Animation, visual artistry
Betsy Campbell, The Cape at Penn State, inclusive spirit of the contest
Judging Criteria
Submitted entries will be evaluated along 15 criteria, each worth 1-10 points.
Musical/Lyrical artistry:
- Contemporary market placement and demographic relatability of the entire composition
- Lyrical flow and innovations
- Cultural connectivity
Clarity of entrepreneurship concept
- Alignment with the material in the Disciplined Entrepreneurship books
- Capacity to inspire a young person’s curiosity about innovative entrepreneurship
- Applicable for someone who is starting a venture
Educational merit
- Age appropriate language and content
- Subject matter clarity
- Multimedia reinforcement of core concepts
Visual artistry
- Uniqueness and originality of artwork
- Aesthetic quality (design, composition, color/tones)
- Conceptual connections to lyrics
Inclusive spirit of the contest
- People traditionally under-represented in innovative entrepreneurship are reflected in the content
- Content, including any characters, settings, or sounds, is positive, empowering, and free of stereotypical representations
- Content celebrates the importance of diversity within entrepreneurial teams
Eligibility
All submissions must be created by teams of 2-5 people who are enrolled at the undergraduate level in a US academic institution.
Rules
Submissions must be: less than 2 minutes in total run time, suitable for children (i.e., “G rated”), animations (not live action), and the original work of the team members. A full description of rules is available.
Prizes
A total of $3,500 will be awarded to winning teams.
Winning entries will be featured in a Watch Party hosted by the Penn State Arts and Design Research Incubator in Spring 2022.
The Accelerator Rap Challenge is a national contest open to all undergrads in the US. It is based on the course that won the 2020 Academy of Management Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy award. Examples of student work from the course can be seen online. (NOTE: the guidelines of the course differ from those of the Accelerator Rap Challenge, and these works should not be followed as models for contest submissions. See the rules for contest requirements.)