ANN ARBOR ? The top prize in the spring cycle of Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest, which began on Feb. 1, is the $100,000 SmartZone Award. All GLEQ participants must register by March 4.

GLEQ offers three tracks in the competition to accommodate ventures in various stages of start up. The categories include, New Business Idea, Emerging Company and the SmartZone Award.

Entrepreneurs registering the competition will be matched with business coaches that will provide guidance in preparing business plans and executive summaries for the April 22 deadline for the SmartZone Award and May 6 deadline for the other two categories of the competition.

Awards will be announced and presented at the GLEQ Awards Event June 9, which will be held in conjunction with the two-day Entrepreneur Connect 2011 event in Lansing.

Here are the winners from the fall competition, which ended Jan. 31:

Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award

The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award acknowledges those entrepreneurs with the “right stuff” − passionate drive and a commitment to excellence and personal and professional improvement . Spirit of Entrepreneurship winner: Ponce Hunter from Detroit-based Premier Global Marketing.

Coach Recognition Award

Every cycle we pick one of the coaches to be the public face of our appreciation due to their dedication and special support. Coach Recognition Award winner: Helen Ewing. Helen also Coaches for New Enterprise Forum and is the Coach for our top winner this evening.

New Business Idea

First Place Winner

NBI – STIgma Free – $2,000

STIgma Free provides point of care solutions promoting the availability, accessibility, and ease of use for point of health diagnostics. Based in Ann Arbor, this team is lead by Rameshwar Rao and includes Josh White, Sasha Lesher-Perez, Jeremy Holswarth, Bethany Tong, and Patrick Ingram. They were Coached by Lori Moshier.

Second Place Winner

NBI – Local Orbit – $1,500

Local Orbit is web platform that makes it easy for restaurants, institutions and consumers to buy direct from local farms and food producers. Local Orbit is represented by Erika Block of Ann Arbor and she worked with Coach Dennis Stepaniak. Erika also won the ACE’11Elevator Pitch competition.

Third Place Winner

NBI – Figure 8 Rescue – $500

Figure 8 Rescue has developed a new and patent pending infant and child rescue device for use primarily in the fire service. Linden-based Figure 8 is represented by Chad Green.

Emerging Company

First Place Winner

EC – Fusion Coolant Systems – $5,000

Fusion Coolant Systems has developed the next generation of metalworking fluids for machining and metal forming. Based in Ypsilanti, this team includes Scott Jones, Tom Gross, and Andy McColm. Their Coach is Helen Ewing.

Second Place Winner

EC – ArborWind – $3,000

ArborWind is developing a unique Vertical Axis Wind Turbine that is more reliable, easier to construct and maintain, and eliminates many of the other problems experienced with today’s large blade, windmill-style turbines. Dilip Nigam is the entrepreneur leading this venture and his Coach is KIO Ramirez.

Third Place Winner

EC – MitoStem – $2,000

MitoStem is utilizing and perfecting various protein delivery methods to make the generation of induced pluripotential stem cells more efficient. By opening up the supply of this critically limited research reagent, they are facilitating stem cell researchers and expediting their development of therapeutics. This TechTown, Detroit-based venture is lead by Dr. James Eliason and his team includes Jessica Eason-Butler and Alexis Radulovich. Their Coach is Lee Gorman.

Special Announcement and awards from Michigan Growth Capital Symposium

Michigan Growth Capital Symposium awarded a presenting company slot to the top emerging company winner, Fusion Coolant Systems, to be featured on Tuesday, May 10 of the symposium.

Additionally, Michigan Growth Capital Symposium further recognizes the winners in the GLEQ Business Plan Competition and the hard work performed by our statewide network of SmartZones by awarding to last June’s SmartZone Award winner a presenting company slot at the symposium. The SmartZone Award winning company was In-Pore Technologies, represented by Gerry Roston.

This year the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium will celebrate 30 years of bringing together investors from across the U.S. with venture-ready businesses from the Midwest.

May 10-11 the symposium will host 44 presenting companies seeking up to $20 million in funding ? twelve of which will be angel/seed stage companies seeking $500 thousand to $2 million in funding.

The symposium is hosted by the University of Michigan Ross School of Business with support from the Michigan Venture Capital Association and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Coaching and presentation support from the Great Lakes Entrepreneurs Quest, the Michigan SBTDC and the New Enterprise Forum are integral to preparing companies to pitch.

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