LIVONIA ? Monarch Antenna, developing a smart and adaptive tunable antenna solution for Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy III, won first place in Emerging Company category at the fall Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest competition Jan. 31 at the Burton Manor. Monarch, based in Ann Arbor, received a check for $5,000. The competition was held during the Annual Collaboration For Entrepreneurship.

But in a new wrinkle this year, GLEQ is loaning the winners of the Emerging Company category rather than giving them cash awards. GLEQ Chairman Jack Ahrens said the business-plan competition wanted to make the awards more resemble the real life world of private equity where investors don?t give companies cash string-free. Ahrens said the pay-back period is five years.

Monarch also is automatically entered in the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium this May, one of more than three-dozen companies that will pitch potential investors from across the United States.

Second place, and $3,000, went to Blue Water Bioproducts. Port Huron-based Blue Water Bioproducts offers cost competitive, high performance polyurethane resins manufactured from an environmentally friendly and renewable material.

Third Place, and $2,500, went to Exo Dynamics. Ann Arbor-based Exo Dynamics is dedicated to creating the next generation of spinal orthoses that will improve treatment processes for people afflicted with chronic spinal conditions or injuries.

Award winners in the New Business Ideas category were:

First place went to Ann Arbor-based AdAdapted offers a mobile advertising network providing dynamic, customizable, non-disruptive, product placement opportunities within mobile games and apps. AdAdapted received $2,500.

Second place went to Beet Analytics Technology. The Plymouth-based company is commercializing a software product to revolutionize the way factory performance is monitored and managed. The company received $1,500.

Third place was awarded Kymeira. The Ann Arbor -based Kymeira is producing a new-to-the-world ceramic material they call a “thermoset ceramic” that replaces heat sintering with chemical sintering, enabling the incorporation of many commerically available reinforcing agents to increase strength of ceramics while enabling new production methods and reducing cost. The company received $1,000.

Other GLEQ awards include:

GLEQ Coach Recognition Award. John Balbach, MI-SBTDC Tech Team, received the GLEQ Coach Recognition Award. He was nominated by Deepak Ravindra, Micro-LAM Technologies, a Kalamazoo-based venture using laser technology to thermally heat and soften hard and brittle materials. John was cited for his unique ability to turn around negative outcomes in very positive way, find efficient and productive solutions quickly, and motivate and inspire an entrepreneurial team.

GLEQ Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award. Barry Paxton, Pharma Form Solutions, received The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award. He was nominated by his business coach, Viktor Brandneris, and was recognized for his openness to coaching and his productive use of the Business Model Canvas even when faced with results that raised potentially serious issues with his plan. Barry aggressively dove into the customer discovery process and quickly realized that negative feedback was actually money, time and energy-saving input that would ultimately lead him to a better business model.

In addition to the awards presented at ACE?13, GLEQ director, Diane Durance, announced several awards planned for the Spring 2013 GLEQ Business Plan Competition including the 4th Annual $100,000 SmartZone Award sponsored by Michigan?s network of SmartZones and a new track in the competition sponsored by Michigan Corp and MEDC for Social Ventures with an award package of $50,000. Continued awards include the Global Food Protection Institute award for food safety, the MSU Bioeconomy Institute award for green chemistry, the Michigan Medical Device Accelerator award, the NextEnergy Alternative Energy award, and the Automation Alley award for advanced manufacturing.

Winning ventures were selected by 85 volunteer judges, including venture capitalists; angel investors; university-based tech transfer, engineering and business staff; and economic and business development professionals. The GLEQ awards were presented by Diane Durance, Executive Director, GLEQ; Jack Ahrens, Managing Partner, TGap Ventures, and Chairman of the GLEQ Board of Directors; Carolyn Cassin, president and CEO, Michigan Women?s Foundation and GLEQ Board director; and Kevin McCurren, Executive Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Grand Valley State University.

Meanwhile, the winner of the ACE13 Elevator Pitch Competition was David Fuehrer, CEO of cureLauncher of Bloomfield Hills. His startup solves the clinical trial enrollment problem. Among the 50,000 trials in the U.S. every year, each one is delayed by 4.6 months due to enrollment issues. cureLauncher provides easy-to-understand information about trials and the enrollment forms to connect people to lifesaving new treatments. Every enrolling breast cancer trial in the country is available on curelauncher.com right now.