A contest sponsored by Cornell's Johnson School is seeking business ideas for its seventh annual BR Ventures Business Idea Competition. Open to all students, faculty, staff and alumni, the contest will accept entries until March 4.

A business idea is a concept upon which a commercial venture can be based. Entrants are required to submit a two-page description of the business idea, not a full business plan.

The winning idea will receive $10,000 and 20 hours of free legal help through BR Legal, Cornell's entrepreneurship legal services program. Second place will be awarded $2,500, and third place will receive $1,000. The first- and second-place winners also will be entered in the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge, a business plan competition for Buffalo, Ithaca, Rochester and western New York, as well as the city of Waterloo, Ontario. The first-place winner of this competition will receive $100,000 in cash.

Typically, BR Ventures, the student-run venture capital fund at the Johnson School, attracts more than 100 entries from across the country.

The nine student managers in BR Ventures review each entry and select no more than seven ideas to advance as finalists of the competition. Notification to finalists will be made by e-mail or phone March 17.

The competition was designed to foster entrepreneurship by combining the talents of entrepreneurs with the capital and resources of BR Ventures and BR Incubator, a student-run business incubator that provides consulting services to start-ups. It is intended for entry teams that have not yet received funding or have received seed funding of less than $100,000.

Each finalist will present his or her idea before a panel of expert venture capitalists, successful entrepreneurs and business and law professionals April 19 at Cornell. The judging is based on the viability of the business idea and information conveyed during the final presentation. The winning ideas will be announced later that day at the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration Dinner.

Additional information, including official rules, guidelines and the entry form, can be found at http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/brv/bicinfo.html.