By Lorianne Flint
Designing Web sites has always been a hobby for Jennifer Ball, a senior from Vancouver, Wash., majoring in linguistics. Ball has always wanted to participate in the Web Solutions Competition but never signed up. This semester, she wasn?t going to pass up the opportunity again.
?I?ve been meaning to sign up for years,? Ball said. ?I enjoy making Web pages and the competition is a great way to build up a portfolio and there?s also a chance of winning in the end.?
Every semester, BYU?s Rollins Center for eBusiness sponsors the Web Solutions Competition. Students compete for money and prizes by designing Web sites and developing e-business solutions for two sponsoring companies. Students from any department, not just business and computer graphics, are encouraged to signup in teams.
The ideal team contains members skilled in graphics, programming and marketing and sales, said Beth Robinson, program manager for the Center. However, any student with Web development skills is invited.
?You?ve got to have a variety of talents to make a successful team,? said Stephen Liddle, academic director. ?We encourage students from all across campus. Whether they come from the Fine Arts Department or the Marriott School, we don?t care.?
The Web Solutions Competition is a great way to achieve a Rollins Center?s mission to prepare students to lead in a networked world and partner with industry to advance the practice of e-business.
?The Rollins Center is interested in promoting the competency of students in the e-business arena,? Liddle said. ?We connect students with opportunities, and this competition gives students a great showcase for their talents. The broader opportunity is for students to build resumes and have experience under industry?s watchful eye.?
The businesses selected for the competition are Classroom Wishlist and Strategic Vision, both California based. Strategic Vision is a company of clinical psychologists and business professionals studying how and why consumers make buying decisions and the factors that drive owner satisfaction and loyalty, according to their Web site.
Classroom Wishlist is a nonprofit organization that provides needed supplies to teachers and schools by collecting donations from the community. John Lynch, the director of sales and marketing, said he?s looking for innovative solutions for problems of motivating people to participate in the program and create a more manageable site for teachers to use.
?Because we?re so heavily Internet based, it?s a perfect venue for us to tap into the talents at BYU and find solutions,? Lynch said. ?We?re hoping the competition will draw out students with multiple disciplines and help craft a solution enticing parents.?
Representatives from the companies help judge Web sites along with a panel of software, Web design and strategy specialists. Three sites for each business are selected for the final judging round. For those who don?t make it that far, categorical prizes are awarded. For the finalists of each company, $3,000 goes to the first place winner, and $1,000 for the two runner-ups.
Not only is the competition a great chance to earn money and prizes, build resumes and gain essential experience, it can also provide job opportunities.
?We?re hoping to find talent we can draw from in the future,? Lynch said. ?We?ll need continuous work. There are a lot of things we?re hoping to get out of this competition.?
If the sponsoring company isn?t giving jobs, other companies might. Jacob Jenne, a junior from Stevensville, Mont., majoring in information systems, was able to alter the Web site he designed for the fall competition and sell it to another company.
?Although the judges rated us poorly, we sold that exact Web site to another company,? Jenne said.
The deadline to sign up is Feb. 11. Students can find rules and register their team online for free at ebusiness.byu.edu.