REWARD: Up to £10,000 for Yorkshire's most innovative and enterprising business minds, courtesy of The Company of Merchant Adventurers of The City of York.

The Adventurers are preparing to launch a brand new annual Merchant Adventurers' Award for Enterprise to find the brilliant Yorkshire business idea, whether acorn or sapling, worthy of a single grant of up to £5,000.

This comes on top of their Seek and Find grants - through which a fund of £5,000 is available each year to make three awards to people looking to develop their skills in an adventurous way.

The winner of the new award will be announced at Venturefest Yorkshire 2006 at York Racecourse, on February 8.

Professor Tony Robards, chairman of Venturefest Yorkshire, believes the new grant is very much in keeping with the spirit of Venturefest, where brilliant ideas and investors meet.

He said: "For more than 600 years The Company of Merchant Adventurers of The City of York has been supporting business and trade in York.

"It understands the financial restrictions that often limit people's ability to be adventurous in business.

"Venturefest is all about helping these enterprising people, and I am delighted that the Adventurers and Venturefest are working so well together."

Nicholas McMahon Turner, governor of the Adventurers, said: "We're looking for daring, bold people who think differently, people with great ideas who are determined to succeed.

"The synergy between what we're aiming to achieve and the support Venturefest Yorkshire is giving entrepreneurs make the event the ideal platform to announce the first recipient of the new award, as well as the next round of Seek and Find grants."

The Merchant Adventurers' Award for Enterprise is open to applicants aged over 16 with links in Yorkshire, via an online application form at www.venturefestyork.net to be submitted before Christmas.

Applications must relate to the individual's own work and/or personal creativity, and must have potential for commercial exploitation. Applicants must also state how an award of up to £5,000 would make a significant difference to moving their business idea forward.

Seek and Find grants are awarded three times a year to help people from all walks of life develop their talents for the good of themselves and their community.

A maximum of £5,000 is awarded to people who cannot secure funding in other ways.

Applications are considered from adventurous people working in knowledge-based and science and technology sectors, including the creative arts, and applicants must show true entrepreneurial spirit.

Updated: 10:45 Thursday, November 24, 2005