ANN ARBOR ? The Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest has added two new Innovation Awards, sponsored by Automation Alley and NextEnergy worth some $25,000, and announced registration for the spring cycle will close next week on the business-plan writing competition that now has a purse of more than $100,000.

The deadline for registered teams to submit their completed business plans is noon, May 15. This year, the top ?Emerging Company? in the statewide competition will be awarded $25,000. The combined value of all sponsored awards, including cash grants, investments, purchased resources and in-kind services will exceed $100,000.

The Spring Cycle Business Plan competition provides technology networking opportunities, business coaching and commercialization plan feedback. The Quest is structured into two distinct maturity ?paths?. Companies with developed businesses compete in the Emerging Company (EC) path, while more embryonic teams compete in the New Business Ideas (NBI) path. Both EC and NBI plans are assessed by representatives from each of the state?s venture capital firms.

The EC teams must complete and submit an eight to 12 page business plan, while the NBI teams must develop and submit a five page executive summary describing their business or business idea. The GLEQ provides the help of coaches and educational programs to assist all entrepreneurs with their business plans. Each receives multiple written feedback reports.

In addition to the top awards, two new Innovation Awards will be sponsored by Automation Alley and NextEnergy. The new Innovator Awards support each sponsor?s specific organizational goals and may take the form of investment and/or purchased resources specific to the needs of the awarded companies. Details will be announced later.

?We are extremely happy to have each of our new sponsors supporting the newly created Innovation Awards,? said Art DeMonte, executive director, GLEQ.

The awards given in the 2006 spring cycle are:

Grand Prize ? Emerging Company category – $25,000,p>

Runner-up ? Emerging Company category – $5,000

1st Prize ? New Business Idea category – $5,000

Runner-up ? New Business Idea category – $1,000

Automation Alley Innovation Award ? Advanced Automotive Team – $12,500

NextEnergy Innovation Award ? Alternative Energy Team – $12,500

To register on line, click on GLEQ.Org