The Winner's Circle

The second year Alaska Marketplace competition in 2007 was another huge success. Alaska Marketplace received more than 306 concept papers from across Alaska. The 296 Business Idea Applications that met eligibility requirements fit into six main categories: Energy & Technology, Arts & Crafts, Environment & Land Use, Heritage, Tourism and General. Sixty-four finalists from across Alaska were selected to advance to the Competition Event, which was held on October 24th in the Alaska Marketplace Pavilion near the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

Sixty-one finalists made it to Fairbanks to compete in front of a world-class panel of judges, and twenty-one of the finalists took home awards ranging from $15,000 to $60,000, while the remaining finalists each received $1,000. The 21 Award winners were announced at the Award Ceremony during the AFN Convention in the Carlson Center. The Convention is televised live and web streamed, the event was viewed not only by the delegates but statewide by television and globally by internet.

The 2007 Alaska Marketplace winners resides from regions across Alaska, from the coast to the interior, including 5 from Southcentral, 3 from Western, 4 from the Arctic, 2 from the Interior, 5 from Southeast Alaska and 2 from the Aleutian/Kodiak Islands. People's Choice awards of $1,000 each were awarded to the three most popular proposals voted by the public.