RADFORD - Top overall prizes of $500 were awarded to two videos produced by RU students at the 2009 Global Innovation Tournament (GIT) Showcase Luncheon, hosted by the Radford University College of Business and Economics (COBE) and sponsored by SunTrust, Wednesday, Nov. 18 at the Muse Banquet Hall.

The overall independent winner award went to the entry titled “CCS: Currency Saving Squad“ that was created by RU MBA students Hawi Alemu, Madalyn Arena, Heath Charter, Kelly Martin and Mandy Murphy. (See the video on YouTube.)

The prize for overall winner in the student organization category went to “Remaining Obsessively Frugal Together (ROFT),” produced by members of ROC-TV and the American Marketing Association. (See the video on YouTube.)

(See photo of the student organization winners below.)

“The brainstorming, the writing and the production were all challenging, but were fun and a valuable learning experience,” said Kelly Martin, captain of the RU MBA team.

The task issued to the entrants was to create videos that portray saving money as a fun activity and counter the perception that saving is difficult or unpleasant. CSS is a forensic police drama knock-off about a team whose purpose is to find individuals who are wasting money and highlight various specific saving tactics. ROFT is a humorous take on a therapy group in which group members personify money-saving tactics.

Eight other teams were awarded category prizes and will join the overall winners to advance for consideration against winners from 151 other competitions taking place concurrently across the world. International winners will be announced at the Stanford University Announcement and Showcase of Global Tournament Winners Showcase on Dec. 3.

Advancing to the winners’ showcase and earning $100 prizes are the following category winners: Fun: “Change Cache,“ produced by the Highlanders team, captained by Lindsay Woo; Humor: ”Squeegee Car Wash,“ produced by the Non-Guilty team, captained by Christopher Franke; Green: “Having Fun; Saving Money,“ produced by the RU Sustainability team, captained by Keith Smith; “Back to the Basics,” produced by the Go-Getters team, captained by Laura Herald; Out-of-the-Box: “Radford’s Coupon Puzzle Book,” produced by the Sean Clancy team; Creative: “Ruff McGuff Super Seven,” produced by the Michelle Cleverdon team; Value Created: “Coupons,” created by the Galen Kashtock team; and Impact: produced by the RU Innovated team, captained by Monica Yako.

“The entries were indeed creative,“ said COBE Dean Faye W. Gilbert. “And the judges were hard-pressed to select the winners as there were such diverse treatments of the challenge to make saving fun.”

The 2009 GIT Challenge is an international, apprentice-style competition for college students which seeks to promote innovation and problem-solving and includes over 2600 students from 45 countries. Radford University was local organizer for more than 60 teams comprised of an estimated 300 students. The local winners were determined by a team of judges composed of RU faculty and COBE Advisory Council members. Prizes were provided by briancorkcapital.com and COBE Dean Faye Gilbert while Best Buy provided additional cameras to support the contest’s video production effort.

The ROC-TV/American Marketing Association team whose entry was selected as the overall student organization winner at Wednesday’s GIT 2009 COBE Showcase luncheon.  Front row (l-r): Kevin Vernon, captain Caroline Tunick, Kirstin Billard. Back row (l-r): Jimmy Buxton, Jorge Alvarez, Sean Engle and Branden Farthing.