RedEye crowned five Chicago entrepreneurs at our third Big Idea Awards on Thursday night at Ravenswood Event Center. The annual event is our way of supporting big ideas, local innovation and start-up businesses in the Chicago area across four categories: Technology, Community Involvement & Civic Engagement, Art & Design and Food & Drink.
Bryan Glenn won in the Technology category with his idea of DashPorter, which is a pickup service for vehicles that need repairs.
Casandra L Adkins won in the Community Involvement and Civic Engagement category with her idea of Safe Socks, which helps children and teens communicate non-verbally via socks to a trusted adult.
Shashin Patel won in the Art and Design category with his idea of Painting to Gogh, which ships customers art materials and provides step-by-step digital video tutorials to recreate a masterpiece.
Kat Connor and Lindzi Shanks won in the Food and Drink category with their idea of XO Marshmallow, which is gourmet handmade marshmallows and Monuts, doughnut-shaped marshmallows that fit perfectly inside a mug.
Each winning idea will receive a $1,000 cash prize, ads in RedEye’s print edition and a one-year small business membership to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce plus a gift certificate to apply toward event registration to help get the idea to that next level.
Raaja Nemani, the co-founder and CEO of Bucketfeet, spoke to finalists and attendees during his keynote address Thursday night. The event was hosted by Improve it! founder Erin Diehl, who won the 2014 Big Idea award in the category of Art and Design.
RedEye would like to say a special thanks to everyone who attended the event and helped support innovation and entrepreneurs in Chicago.
