# Burton D. Morgan Venture Concept Competition at Purdue: Complete Guide

> An evergreen guide to Purdue's Burton D. Morgan Venture Concept Competition: what it is, how it works, who can enter, how the format has changed, and where to find each semester's archive.

By buildpurdue Team · September 28, 2026 · 3 min read

Source: https://www.buildpurdue.org/blog/burton-d-morgan-venture-concept-competition

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The **Burton D. Morgan Venture Concept Competition** is one of Purdue's longest-running student entrepreneurship competitions. It began in **1987** with support from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and has changed names and formats several times as Purdue's venture-building programs evolved.

This page is the evergreen hub. For semester-specific deadlines, prize pools, finalists, and results, use the archive links below instead of assuming one cycle's rules apply to another.

## Competition archive

| Cycle | Guide | Finalists | Results |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Fall 2026 — 38th** | [Fall 2026 guide](/blog/burton-d-morgan-venture-concept-competition-fall-2026) | Not announced as of **September 28, 2026** | Final scheduled for **December 11, 2026** |
| **Fall 2025 — 37th** | [Fall 2025 archive](/blog/burton-d-morgan-venture-concept-competition-fall-2025) | [Fall 2025 finalists](/blog/burton-d-morgan-finalists-fall-2025) | [Fall 2025 results](/blog/burton-d-morgan-winners-results-fall-2025) |
| **Spring 2025 — 36th** | [Spring 2025 archive](/blog/burton-d-morgan-business-concept-competition-spring-2025) | [Spring 2025 finalists](/blog/burton-d-morgan-finalists-spring-2025) | [Spring 2025 results](/blog/burton-d-morgan-winners-results-spring-2025) |

For the live source of truth, see Purdue's [official competition page](https://business.purdue.edu/centers/communication-center/case-competitions/burton-d-morgan-business-concept-competition.php).

## What the competition is

The modern competition is more than a single pitch day. Purdue has used it to move students through **customer discovery, problem framing, value proposition design, market analysis, and venture validation** before a final event.

The exact format changes by cycle. Spring 2025 was a nine-week Business Concept Competition. Fall 2025 became the 37th **Venture Concept Competition**. Fall 2026 expanded again with a $100,000 prize pool, two tracks, workshops at Purdue HIVE, and new follow-on opportunities.

## Who can participate

Recent cycles have been open broadly to Purdue students across degree levels and colleges. The [Fall 2025 final-event page](https://events.purdue.edu/event/final-event-37th-burton-d-morgan-venture-concept-competition) reported participants from Engineering, Business, Science, Polytechnic, and other disciplines.

Always check the current Purdue page because funding, revenue, intellectual-property, or other early-stage restrictions can change.

## How the name changed

The program has appeared under several names:

- **Business Plan Competition** — used for many earlier editions.
- **Business Model Competition** — Purdue publicly shifted toward business-model development around 2017.
- **Business Concept Competition** — used through the 36th edition in Spring 2025.
- **Venture Concept Competition** — used beginning with the 37th edition in Fall 2025.

The underlying purpose stayed recognizable: give Purdue students a structured process for turning an idea or problem into a stronger venture concept and presenting the result to experienced judges.

## Prize history

Prize pools have varied. Spring 2025 and Fall 2025 each advertised **$50,000**. Fall 2026 doubled that to **$100,000**.

Purdue reported in 2020 that the competition had awarded about **$2 million in total cash prize money since 1987**. See Purdue's [2020 recap](https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/archive/releases/2020/Q2/five-purdue-student-startups-win-more-than-100,000-in-cash,-contributions-at-burton-d.-morgan-business-model-competition.html).

## How it fits into Purdue entrepreneurship

Depending on the cycle, top teams have been pointed toward programs such as [Venture X](/blog/buildpurdue-vs-venture-x), Purdue Innovates' [New Venture Challenge](/blog/buildpurdue-vs-purdue-innovates-new-venture-challenge), and national competitions.

For a direct comparison with buildpurdue's ongoing community, see [buildpurdue vs. the Burton D. Morgan Venture Concept Competition](/blog/buildpurdue-vs-burton-d-morgan-venture-concept-competition).

## How to prepare

For the Fall 2026 application record and preparation guidance, use our [Fall 2026 application guide](/blog/burton-d-morgan-application-guide-fall-2026).

Across recent cycles, the recurring theme is that a strong concept is not merely a clever idea. Teams are pushed to identify a real customer, understand an important problem or job, test assumptions, and show evidence that the opportunity is worth pursuing.

## More Burton D. Morgan coverage

- [Fall 2026 cycle guide](/blog/burton-d-morgan-venture-concept-competition-fall-2026)
- [Fall 2026 application guide](/blog/burton-d-morgan-application-guide-fall-2026)
- [Fall 2025 finalists](/blog/burton-d-morgan-finalists-fall-2025)
- [Fall 2025 results](/blog/burton-d-morgan-winners-results-fall-2025)
- [Spring 2025 results](/blog/burton-d-morgan-winners-results-spring-2025)