Daily Archives: October 3, 2006

Spaceward Foundation announces $4,000,000 in Prize Money!

The latest from the Spaceward Foundation:

Hello Folks.It took till now, but we’ve finally been given permission to share with you a bit of very good news.NASA’s Centennial Challenges program has increased its commitment to our project, and we now have a total of $4,000,000 in prize purse to disburse over the next 5 years. Yes, that’s right – 10 times the purse we’ve had so far, and a solid commitment through 2010 – two things which will enable us to take our program to the next level.To make the most efficient and prudent use of these funds, we will follow an escalating prize purse strategy – this year’s prize purse will remain $200,000 per each of our two competitions, increasing to $300,000 in 2007, and so on, until we reach $600,000 in 2010. Any unwon prizes (and we do not intend to have a winner every year – that will mean we have made it too easy!) will automatically roll over to the following year.Still, the same catch that applied last year will continue to apply in the years to come – NASA provides us with the prize money, but not with operating funds. In order to bring our operations to a level that matches the prize purse, we need to get commercial sponsorship.We’re therefore asking you, our fan base, to act as our ambassadors. We have started a phenomenon that spawns the nation and the globe. This year’s games are an order of magnitude larger than last year’s, and we have every opportunity to take the 2007 games literally through the roof – but it all depends on how well we perform this year, both technically and commercially.

As we mentioned in the last email, we posted a list at http://www.elevator2010.org/site/sponsorshipXP.html of sponsorship options we offer this year. This is your chance to make a difference. If you are a marketing executive – please consider them. If you know anyone in a position to make such decisions – go and get them! (If you are shy about approaching them – contact us – we’ll make the call!)Our contact information is elevator2010 AT spaceward.org, or call us directly at 650-793-4987.  We hope to see as many of you as possible at Las Cruces on the 20th!

Sincerely,The Spaceward crew