Founded in 2010, the global network of workspaces, WeWork, revolutionized the business world. The company, who supports original ideas by innovative entrepreneurs, has launched the Creator Awards. Through this bold initiative, the brand is committing over $20 million in an effort to encourage business people around the world to share their creative ideas.
The Creator Awards debuted on March 28 in Washington, D.C., and are part of the company’s plan to empower freelancers, start-ups, nonprofits, and small businesses to express their ideas, giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn and network.
WeWork claims to host several events around the world, from cities across North America, Europe, and the Middle East, with the hope of identifying people inside and outside its network who think differently.
One of Brandingmag‘s legacy contributors, Sidney Evans, had the opportunity to talk about this event with WeWork’s General Manager, Adam Wacenske.
When asked about why WeWork pursued this initiative, Wacenske said: “The idea for the awards was born from the WeWork mission: To help people create a world where people create a life not just a living.” He also added that the company’s goal is to help entrepreneurs with resources that soon may not be available.
During the interview with our long-form counterpart, Brandingmag, the manager explained that the prizes are not restricted to certain industries only:
“The great thing is that the awards are not limited to traditional industries like tech media, or advertising. Anyone who is a creator whether a restaurateur, entrepreneur or even an artist.”
Competitors can apply for the Creator Awards on the event’s webpage, where they can subscribe to one of the three levels available: Incubated, Launch, or Scale. The recent winner for the Incubate stage was the ‘Shakespeare In Prison’ by the Detroit Public Theater, a program that teaches crucial life skills for those who are in prison. In the Scale stage, the winner was the national non-profit ‘Bunker Labs,’ an organization created by military veterans to help other veterans on how to start and grow a business.
Individual finalists will be selected for Regional Finals and later, the winners will move to the Global Finals, which will take place in New York City on November 30th.
Aspiring entrepreneurs in Miami are invited to express their innovative ideas by June 12, and two weeks later, on June 26-27, the awards will culminate during the regional finals ceremony in Austin, with $1.5 million at stake. The subsequent events will take place in London and Mexico in September, and in Berlin and Tel Aviv a month later.
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