Deadline: January 15, 2026
Applications are open for the Diamond Challenge 2026. The Diamond Challenge, a philanthropic education initiative by Horn Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware, provides free resources for students, educators, and entrepreneurship practitioners. Participants learn from new ideas and create, submit, and present original business and social venture concepts.
The competition focuses on turning passions into business or social venture concepts, offering a philanthropic education initiative that provides free resources for students, educators, and entrepreneurship practitioners. Participants are expected to learn from new ideas, create, submit, and present original concepts, develop problem-solving skills, demonstrate unique value, explore revenue or social impact sustainability, and advance entrepreneurial potential.
Prizes
- 1st Place: $12,000
- 2nd Place: $8,000
- 3rd Place: $4,500
Eligibility
- Teams must consist of 2-4 high school students aged 14-18 at the submission deadline. Each team is required to have one adult advisor aged 21 or older. While multiple advisors are allowed, only one can be included in the official team submission. Contact information, including email addresses, must be provided for all team members, including the adult advisor. Each student may participate on only one team and submit one concept per competition year.
- Upon initial submission, each team is required to choose a competition track (business innovation or social innovation) as well as a pitch round format (live pitch event or virtual/pre-recorded). Selections are considered final upon submission.
- Throughout the competition, participants must avoid listing or disclosing the names of their schools unless the school constitutes a critical element of their concept.
- Only concepts created by members of the team may be submitted. If a submission has also been conceived by members not participating in the Diamond Challenge, their full legal names must be disclosed during submission to avoid potential conflicts of interest and/or potential legal challenges at later stages of the competition.
- Concepts must not have generated more than $100,000 in total revenue prior to the submission deadline.
- Concepts that have advanced to the final round (Summit) in prior years cannot be resubmitted.
Application
For more information, visit Diamond Challenge.
