ANN ARBOR— A competition at the University of Michigan aims to gather 1,000 pitches for new businesses, inventions and non-profit organizations by Oct. 5.

The contest, 1,000 Pitches, is a cross-campus effort organized by the College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship.

“This is a campus where we value entrepreneurship,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, director of the U-M Center for Entrepreneurship. “Through this competition, we hope to reach out to a broad range of individuals from different backgrounds across the University because anyone can be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is about ideas.”

U-M students, staff and faculty are eligible. Pitches must be made as Web videos. Maximum length is three minutes. Categories are social, environmental, high tech, health, global business, local business, and green campus. The top pitch in each category will receive a $1,000 award.

Trained students will conduct the initial round of judging. Final judging will be by area entrepreneurs and experts. Judges will sign non-disclosure agreements and no videos will be made public without the consent of the participant.

Ideas will be judged on whether they are feasible, whether they fill a need, whether they can be implemented and whether the plan for implementation is formulated.

Partners in this effort include: Center for Entrepreneurship, the Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Medical Innovation Center, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of Technology Transfer, the Rackham School of Graduate studies, the School of Information, Detroit-based Bizdom University and MPowered Entrepreneurship together with Greek Life. Awards are sponsored by RPM Ventures, MacBeedon Partners, and Arboretum Ventures, as well as MPowered Entrepreneurship.

Pitches can be posted at www.1000pitches.com or e-mailed to 1000pitches@umich.edu. For more instructions, information and examples of pitches visit the website.