The 2006-2007 Top Dawg Business Plan Competition winners have been announced.

A total of $23,500 in cash and prizes was awarded on Saturday at the Top Dawg Business Plan Competition at Louisiana Tech University.

The Clean Fuel Solutions team won first place and $8,000. Team members are Jeremy Pardue, Joshua Raley, Joshua Brown, Kalum Bolton, Chris Bourgoyne and Semhar Araya.

Second place and $5,000 was awarded to Taco Lamp team of Brian Garcia and Crystal Garcia.

The ADEN Technologies team of Dustin James and Klark Kent won third place and $2,000.

In addition to the cash awards, the Louisiana Tech Enterprise Center sponsors incubator space valued at $4,500 for six months to the first, second and third place teams.

To recognize the team that is the most entrepreneurial, a new award is being sponsored by the law firm of Jones Walker. The $2,000 Jones Walker Entrepreneurial Spirit Award was awarded to the Taco Lamp team.

Jones Walker, with more than 200 attorneys, provides the full range of legal services to a sophisticated national and international corporate client base through offices in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Another new award for the competition is the $2,000 Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce Most Improved Plan. This award was won by TECHnically AMR. Team members are Devin Towe, Lee Carraway, Michael Fox and Christopher Watson.

The award was created from funds generated by the Ruston-Lincoln Parish Business Awards Breakfast, which is a collaborate event of the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and the Louisiana Tech College of Business.

This year's competition is sponsored by Larry and Sandra James of Boerne, Texas. James is CEO and board chairman for NetNearU that leads the way in development of public Internet access solutions and remote monitoring software. He is a Louisiana Tech alumnus of the College of Business and serves on the college's advisory board. Sandra Jones is a certified public accountant. She earned her doctorate in Management and Statistics from the University of Texas at Austin and served as a business college professor and dean. The couple are dedicated to creating and supporting opportunities for students to enhance their academic experience.

Judges for this year's event were Sam Davidson, owner/manager of Samandy L.L.C in Monroe; James, CEO of NetNearU in Bryan/College Station, Texas; Miriam Russell, northeast regional director for Louisiana Economic Development; Joel Trammell, co-Founder and CEO of NetQos in Austin, Texas; and Bob Tucker, senior partner at Jones Walker in Baton Rouge.

Nine multi-disciplinary teams participated in the preliminary round of the competition and six teams progressed to Saturday's final round. Teams are scored on the quality of their plan and presentation as well as the overall viability of their business concept. The Top Dawg was established in 2002 and was organized by the student organization, ABESE (The Association of Business Engineering and Science Entrepreneurs). ABESE was created to promote and cultivate an entrepreneurial culture on the Tech campus.

The founding members of ABESE felt strongly that the core of economic development in North Louisiana as well as the success of Louisiana Tech students lies in the development of an entrepreneurial spirit.