REGISTER FOR 2026

Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition

The largest and most prestigious virtual pitch competition for high school students around the world

The 2025 competition is now closed, and the judging process has begun. The Top 100 will be announced on March 30, 2025. Stay tuned!

Registration for the 2026 competition will open soon.

Preparing High School Students for the Real World of Entrepreneurship and Empowering Them to Create Blue Ocean Businesses.

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Compete Globally, Pitch Virtually

The Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition is a virtual competition that attracts the very best high school-aged entrepreneurs from all over the world.

Every year, thousands of high school students pitch their innovative business concepts to experienced entrepreneurs and business people, receive feedback on their ideas, join a community of like-minded students, and compete for thousands in cash prizes.

REGISTER

Compete Globally, Pitch Virtually

The Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition is a virtual competition that attracts the very best high school aged entrepreneurs from all over the world.

Every year, thousands of high school students pitch their innovative business concepts to experienced entrepreneurs and business-people, receive feedback on their ideas, join a community of like-minded students, and compete for thousands in cash prizes.

REGISTER

Participating is Easy

Register for the competition solo or team up with up to four friends to compete together.
Identify a pressing problem the world faces or a new market space that no one has tapped into.
To address this, create something that the world hasn’t seen before and build a business idea around it.
Check out the scoring criteria to make sure your idea qualifies as a blue ocean business.
Reference the blue ocean pitch template to structure your video pitch.
Record your 5-minute video, upload on YouTube, submit a link and the video file.
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How is the Blue Ocean Competition Different from Other Pitch Competitions?

Other Pitch Competitions

Embrace innovation as a random, risky proposition with a high chance of failure.
Primarily focus on differentiation to set business ventures apart.
Often require face-to-face presentations significantly limiting access.
Need to have a running start-up business to participate.
No specific methodology or templates are provided.
Winners are awarded for outstanding achievement.
Prizes for students only.

Blue Ocean Competition

Students learn the methodology to maximize opportunities and minimize risks to drastically decrease the odds of failure for their entrepreneurial ideas.
Students pursue both differentiation and low cost to formulate blue ocean business ideas.
High schools students can all compete, wherever they may be in the world.
High school students with just an idea for a blue ocean business can also participate.
Blue Ocean tools and templates are provided to build your business idea and to structure your pitch.
Students are recognized for their participation and outstanding achievement and also for Blue Ocean online course completion.
Students and teachers have an opportunity to win prizes for their school. Resources are provided for teachers to teach the college-level course materials in their class.
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Why Compete

Get real entrepreneurial experience. This is a practical exercise in entrepreneurship.
Make your college applications stand out by participating in a world-class global competition.
Learn about blue ocean strategy – often required reading in college
Gain valuable experience developing and pitching blue ocean business ideas.
Develop essential skills in communicating ideas, developing a pitch, working in a team or by yourself, and more.
Get feedback from seasoned entrepreneurs and business executives.
Win money for yourself. Win prizes for your school. No constraints on spending.
Have fun challenging and beating high school students from all around the world!
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The World's Largest Virtual Entrepreneurship Competition for High School Students

Record-breaking 2025 Blue Ocean Competition participation.

Participants

Countries and territories

Schools

US states

Join high school students from all over the globe

Check if your school has participated here.

163 countries already represented and counting!

🇦🇫 Afghanistan
🇦🇱 Albania
🇩🇿 Algeria
🇦🇴 Angola
🇦🇷 Argentina
🇦🇺 Australia
🇦🇹 Austria
🇧🇸 Bahamas
🇧🇩 Bangladesh
🇧🇿 Belize
🇧🇯 Benin
🇧🇴 Bolivia
🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
🇧🇼 Botswana
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇧🇬 Bulgaria
🇧🇮 Burundi
🇰🇭 Cambodia
🇨🇲 Cameroon
🇨🇦 Canada
🇨🇻 Cape Verde
🇰🇾 Cayman Islands
🇹🇩 Chad

 

🇨🇱 Chile
🇨🇳 China
🇨🇴 Colombia
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
🇨🇮 Cote d'Ivoire
🇭🇷 Croatia
🇨🇩 DR Congo
🇩🇯 Djibouti
🇩🇴 Dom Republic
🇪🇨 Ecuador
🇪🇬 Egypt
🇸🇻 El Salvador
🇪🇹 Ethiopia
🇫🇴 Faroe Islands
🇫🇯 Fiji
🇫🇮 Finland
🇫🇷 France
🇬🇲 Gambia
🇬🇪 Georgia
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇭 Ghana
🇬🇷 Greece
🇬🇹 Guatemala

🇬🇳 Guinea
🇬🇾 Guyana
🇭🇹 Haiti
🇭🇰 Hong Kong
🇭🇺 Hungary
🇮🇳 India
🇮🇩 Indonesia
🇮🇶 Iraq
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇮🇱 Israel
🇮🇹 Italy
🇯🇲 Jamaica
🇯🇵 Japan
🇯🇴 Jordan
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
🇰🇪 Kenya
🇽🇰 Kosovo
🇱🇧 Lebanon
🇱🇸 Lesotho
🇱🇷 Liberia
🇱🇾 Libya
🇱🇹 Lithuania
🇲🇰 Macedonia

🇲🇬 Madagascar
🇲🇼 Malawi
🇲🇾 Malaysia
🇲🇱 Mali
🇲🇺 Mauritius
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇲🇩 Moldova
🇲🇳 Mongolia
🇲🇪 Montenegro
🇲🇦 Morocco
🇲🇿 Mozambique
🇲🇲 Myanmar
🇳🇦 Namibia
🇳🇵 Nepal
🇳🇱 Netherlands Antilles
🇳🇿 New Zealand
🇳🇮 Nicaragua
🇳🇪 Niger
🇳🇬 Nigeria
🇳🇴 Norway
🇴🇲 Oman
🇵🇰 Pakistan
🇵🇸 Palestine
🇵🇦 Panama

🇵🇪 Peru
🇵🇭 Philippines
🇵🇱 Poland
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇶🇦 Qatar
🇷🇴 Romania
🇷🇺 Russia
🇷🇼 Rwanda
🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis
🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
🇸🇳 Senegal
🇷🇸 Serbia
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
🇸🇬 Singapore
🇸🇰 Slovakia
🇸🇴 Somalia
🇿🇦 South Africa
🇰🇷 South Korea
🇪🇸 Spain
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
🇸🇩 Sudan
🇸🇷 Suriname

🇸🇿 Swaziland
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇹🇼 Taiwan
🇹🇿 Tanzania
🇹🇭 Thailand
🇹🇬 Togo
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
🇹🇳 Tunisia
🇹🇷 Turkey
🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands
🇺🇬 Uganda
🇺🇦 Ukraine
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇾 Uruguay
🇺🇸 USA
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
🇻🇳 Viet Nam
🇿🇲 Zambia
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
... + more!

What Inspired the Competition?

The Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition is inspired by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s global bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy inspires high school students to:

  • start looking at the world with a new perspective;
  • see possibilities where other see boundaries;
  • see growth where others see constraints;
  • solve problems that have never been solved before;
  • create solutions using systematic tools and frameworks;
  • start businesses that will make this world a better place for all of us!
LEARN MORE

What Inspired the Competition?

The Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition is inspired by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s global bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy inspires high school students to:

  • start looking at the world with a new perspective;
  • see possibilities where other see boundaries;
  • see growth where others see constraints;
  • solve problems that have never been solved before;
  • create solutions using systematic tools and frameworks;
  • start businesses that will make this world a better place for all of us!
LEARN MORE

Why Students Love to Participate

“The Blue Ocean Competition has been an amazing opportunity to fuel my desire to create my own business with one of my best friends. The competition has gained us attention and opened doors we never could have imagined.”

Jeremy Quinn

North County HS '17

“The Blue Ocean Entrepreneur Competition encourages students to dive deep into their own ideas. It offers a unique opportunity to develop the practical skills necessary to realize any vision.”

Sydney Hough

Saratoga HS ‘20

“The Blue Ocean Pitch Competition was a fantastic platform for us to not just get validation for our idea but also learn about many new innovative products and services created by other high school students like us.”

Riya Gupta and Nishka Ayya

The Harker School - San Jose ‘19

Why Teachers Get Involved

“The competition enriches the marketing curriculum and provides students with essential entrepreneurial, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration skills to prepare them for the future.”

Ilene Littman

Business Education Teacher, Ward Melville HS, NY

“There is an essential curriculum that must be covered in the course, but we also are allowed to add onto that curriculum to enrich the experience for the students. That is what I did through the Blue Ocean competition and the online course.”

Kristin Taylor

Business and Marketing Teacher Centennial HS, MD, Pillager HS, MN

Get Involved

Students

Develop entrepreneurial skills and experience that will set you up for success.

Teachers

Prepare your students for the real world of entrepreneurship.

Judges

Share your expertise to help high school students become better entrepreneurs.

Sponsors

Empower high school students to change the world for the better.

Ambassadors

Inspire your peers to create innovative solutions to real-life problems.

Global Partners

Make the competition accessible to all high schoolers around the world.

Recent Winners

More than 9,800 students took part in the 2024 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.

See the winning pitches for 2024

More than 5,200 students took part in the 2023 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.

See the winning pitches for 2023

More than 2500 students took part in the 2022 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.

See the winning pitches for 2022

More than 2000 students took part in the 2022 competition. Check out the inspiring winning blue ocean pitches.

See the winning pitches for 2021