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Participant: Mark Male and Dickson Won, University of Alberta
Business name:Paramagnus Developments Inc.
Concept:the first company to offer an integrated end-to-end solution with easy to use software based tools and services for podcasting. Now users can create and share audio and video when they want, where they want, and how they want. More Finalists >

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The First National Nicol Entrepreneurial Awards Competition Chateau Laurier Hotel Ottawa March 31st, 2005

Ottawa February 23rd -The Nicol Entrepreneurial Awards Competition brings together top student groups and business leaders from across the country. The competition will be held March 31st at The Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, in the Laurier Room from 1-5 PM followed by a reception at 6 PM and awards dinner 7 PM in the Ballroom.

The Nicol Award is a National Business Plan Competition designed to help promote the entrepreneurial spirit with Canadian University students. The program has been running at Carleton University for the last seven years, and Acadia was added to the mix last year. For this year there will be teams participating from Acadia, Brock, Carleton, Manitoba, Ottawa, and Queen's University.

The Nicol Foundation has sponsored a local award competition at each participating university. At each school, students from cross-faculty teams present a unique business idea and plan. The best of these teams are invited to present their idea to a panel of judges from the local business community, with the prize money being awarded to the top three teams ($6K, $3K and $1K respectively).

The top teams will receive the honor of coming to The First National Nicol Awards in Ottawa and representing their school in a competition against the other top teams from across the Country. It is our goal to eventually expand this program to all schools from coast -to coast and make it an annual event.

We are pleased to have confirmed as our judges: Ronan McGrath , President of Rogers Shared Operations and CIO of Rogers Communications Inc., Sue Storey, Managing Director of CIBC World Markets Vice President CIBC, D enzil D oyle, Chairman, Capital Alliance Ventures Inc., Peter Eddison CEO AutoSkill International Inc. and D ebi Rosati , President of RosatiNet Venture Capital.

We are especially pleased to have as our keynote speaker for the Awards D inner Eric Sprott, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Portfolio Manager of Sprott Asset Management. Mr. Sprott is recognized by the business press as one of the leading investment counsel in Canada today. Maclean's Magazine recently stated "We are pleased to report for the fourth year in a row the Sprott Equity Fund achieved the title The Best Canadian Equity Fund based on its three year return of 36% as of December 31, 2004." Wes Nicol said "he is greatly appreciates Eric taking the time to come to Ottawa and speak to these bright aspiring students and to us as the audience." We are also very proud to have as our Master of Ceremonies D avid W. Scott QC, Co-Chair of the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais. Tickets for the awards dinner are $100 each and $35 for students.

The Nicol Competition is open to the public, we welcome everyone to come and cheer their favorite university in their efforts take home the First National Nicol Award. The six teams will each have 20 minutes to present their business plans followed by a question and answer period of 10 minutes.

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For Further Information, please contact:

Sheila O'Gorman
613-232-8030
613-294-2919