Powerful Answers Documentary Gives 2014 Hopefuls Insight into Winners’ Journey

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During CES 2013, Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam announced the Verizon Powerful Answers competition, offering millions of dollars in prize money to encourage technology innovations in healthcare, education and sustainability. The company challenged innovators, developers and entrepreneurs to create ideas that would leverage Verizon’s network to deliver great solutions and social good.

During the year-long competition, 1,300 entries were received. They were narrowed to 30 finalists in October 2013 with the 15 winners announced at CES 2014. In addition to a cash prize, winners were also connected to a wide variety of network, business development and marketing experts across Verizon to explore ongoing collaborations. See here for how they’ve leveraged that money and support to date.

In time for the 2014 Powerful Answers Award launch, Verizon has posted a documentary series covering all aspects of the competition, including profiles, insight into the process and the finale that includes interviews with the winners. The documentary, which is available online, gives 2014 hopefuls a lens into the competition from the winners’ point of view. The series includes:

  1. The Setup: Competition overview and finalist introduction
  2. Healthcare Winner: Howard Weinstein of Solar Ear from Sao Paulo, Brazil
  3. Sustainability Winner: Billy Parish of Mosaic from Oakland, CA
  4. Sustainability Winner: Cindy Halberlin of Good 360 from Washington, D.C.
  5. Healthcare Winner: Divya Dhar of Seratis from San Francisco, CA and Houston, TX
  6. Education Winner: Steven Hoffman of Zapitalism from San Francisco, CA
  7. Education Winner: Ilene Fisher of Womenlead from Boston, MA
  8. Sustainability Winner: Michael Gilbert of Semiosbio from Vancouver, Canada
  9. Healthcare Winner: Yaopeng Zhou of Portable Vision Examination from New York, NY
  10. The Finale: Interviews with the winners

The Powerful Award programs aims to discover ideas that deliver the best new solutions in four core areas: education, healthcare, sustainability, and, a new category for 2014, transportation. Submissions will be accepted through June 30, 2014. They will be judged by panels of industry experts, and winners will be announced in early 2015.

Visit www.powerfulanswersaward.com for details and to submit your idea, and follow the journey via Twitter at #VZPAA.

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