Program Offers Free Energy Audits

National

Inventors looking for national recognition and a little cash to take their ideas to the next level can enter the Search for Invention '98 contest sponsored by catalog retailer Hammacher Schlemmer. The grand prize winner receives a $5,000 grant; entries must be submitted by May 15.

Entries are being accepted in four categories: recreation, personal care, personal electronics, and utilitarian home and garden. Each submission must be a patented, tangible product, be a working or nonworking prototype, be for general consumer use, and cannot have been advertised or offered for sale in a catalog or retail outlet.

In addition to the grand-prize winner, the top inventions in each category receive $1,000 grants. The grand-prize winner's invention will be displayed at Hammacher Schlemmer's New York City store. To obtain a Search for Invention '98 entry kit, call (773) INVENT-1.

This article was originally published in the April 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Program Offers Free Energy Audits.