A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
Teams of three or four students will compete in five different challenges over the week, testing their creative, business and entrepreneurial skills in tasks based on blagging, selling, designing and marketing.
Each day teams will be knocked out and only the best three teams will progress to the final, which will take place over two days. The prize fund for the winning team is £1,600.
The tasks will include some big names, such as the opportunity for the final three teams to meet two of York Entrepreneurs’ sponsors, Accenture and Ernst & Young.
Sophie Walker, the Events Director of The York Entrepreneurs Society, has thought of and organised the tasks that will be undertaken in this year’s ‘The Apprentice’. She has taken part in two tasks over the three years she has been at York and has organised two in her third year.
Walker told The Yorker that “all I can say is that there are things in there that we have never attempted to do before and I'm really hoping the teams will find them a challenge but still really enjoyable.”
She recommended watching this year’s TV series of ‘The Apprentice’ headed by Lord Alan Sugar, which is currently airing on BBC One, “to keep up to date on what you should and shouldn't do in tasks.”
“We have definitely made this year’s even more like Alan Sugar’s version” she added.
Last year’s competition involved four tasks, which included an auction, a sales task, a production task and an advert task. The final saw competitors create their own events and sell raffle tickets for extra points.
Walker, who competed in last year’s York’s ‘The Apprentice’, reveals she felt “maybe it was too simple, so I can easily say this one is going to be the toughest yet.”
She added: “it is one of the most popular events on campus and we get lots of teams applying. We have already got applications flying in and this is the first point of elimination, so teams have to answer the applications seriously, but still show that they are definitely going to be a fun team to be working with all week.”
She encouraged teams to enter, saying “it is known to be a high pressured week of intense challenges, but it is so much fun. It’s a great way for a group of friends to have the chance to win a huge prize fund, learn skill building techniques and network with businesses on local and national scales.”
“Also it is a real CV booster and we are an award winning society that is recognised by major corporations and has brilliant contacts.”
Last year’s winning team, called ‘4 sugars please’ won a prize fund of £1,200 and Walker says “they definitely deserved the title” after finishing in the top three of every challenge throughout the week, before winning the final task when running an event in BHenrys.
Helen Yandall, a member of the winning team, is now secretary of The York Entrepreneurs and Walker hopes that more people will join the society after taking part.
The competition is open to all University of York students, who can find more details on the Facebook group and apply now by going to www.yorkentrepreneurs.org. Applications close Thursday of week five.
You must log in to submit a comment.
