Fourteen innovative thinkers and potential entrepreneurs are in the running for $20,000 in cash and services in the 5th Annual Mohawk Valley Business Plan Competition.

The winner – who will receive $10,000 cash and $10,000 in professional services – will be announced at the Leading EDGE Awards luncheon on May 13 at Hart’s Hill Inn. Tickets to the luncheon are available by contacting the Mohawk Valley EDGE office.

“We are pleased once again with the quality of the entries to the Mohawk Valley Business Plan Contest,” said EDGE President Steven J. DiMeo. “The interest this contest generates each year demonstrates we are a community of innovative, creative and entrepreneurial people.”

In five years, more than 100 people have entered the annual Mohawk Valley Business Plan Contest. Many of those plans have been put into practice as the basis for successful businesses.

A panel of judges will narrow the entries to a group of finalists by April 25. Those finalists will make oral presentations of their business plans to the judges, who will then select a winner to be announced May 13.

Major sponsors of the Business Plan Contest are Adirondack Bank, Cathedral Corporation, D’Arcangelo & Co., M.A. Polce Consulting, Mohawk Valley Applied Technology Corporation, Mohawk Valley Business Journal, Mohawk Valley EDGE, Mohawk Valley Small Business Development Center, New York Business Development Corporation, NBT Bank, Oneida Savings Bank, Paige Group, Radisson Hotel, Roberts Office Interiors, Rome Savings Bank and Utica Industrial Development Corporation.