Detailed Timeline
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Early Entry Deadline: February 15, 2024 (11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time/ 8:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time) and February 16, 2024 (10:29 a.m. India Standard Time)
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Final Application Deadline: March 14, 2024 (11:59 p.m. EST/ 8:59 p.m. PST) and March 15, 2024 (10:29 a.m. India)
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Peer Review: March 22-April 5, 2024
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Seed Prize Awardees Announcement: Week of April 29, 2024
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Summit Semi-Finalists Selection: Week of May 13, 2024
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Summit Semi-Finalists Announcement: Week of May 27, 2024
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Ambition Accelerator U.S. Summit: Week of August 2, 2024
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Ambition Accelerator India Summit: Week of September 9, 2024
Eligibility Criteria
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Applicants must be at least 16 at the time of application and not older than 26 by the end of the entry period on March 14, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET, March 15, 2024 10:29 a.m. (India).
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Applicants must be residents of the United States, U.S. Territories or India.
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Applicants can apply with a team member or as an individual.
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Limit one entry per person/team.
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Applicants based in the United States or U.S. Territories must apply in English.
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Applicants based in India must apply in English or Hindi.
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Applicants must be the founder or co-founder of the initiative their application represents.
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Ambition Accelerator 2022 semi-finalists, finalists and grand finalists are not eligible to apply. In other words, if you were invited to the Ambition Accelerator Summit in 2022, you are not eligible to re-apply. If you won a $500 seed grant but were not a finalist for the Summit, you are still eligible to apply again.
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Taco Bell Corp. Employees that work at the Taco Bell Restaurant Support Center (RSC), All Employees and their immediate family of Ashoka, Yum!, Taco Bell Foundation, Inc. Taco Bell Corp., and participating advertising and promotional agencies directly involved in planning this Program are NOT eligible to apply or receive a prize through this program.
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Taco Bell Restaurant team members ARE eligible to apply to the Ambition Accelerator (from corporate and franchise restaurants).
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If based in the US: the applicant must be available to participate in the Ambition Accelerator U.S. Summit in the Greater Orange County Area, CA, week of August 2, 2024. For those who are under 18 years old at the time of the Summit, they will be required to be accompanied by ONE adult chaperone, who cannot be a team member and must be approved by their parent or legal guardian.
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If based in India: the applicant must be available to participate in the Ambition Accelerator India Summit in Bangalore, Karnataka, week of September 9, 2024. For those who are under 18 years old at the time of the Summit, they will be required to be accompanied by ONE adult chaperone, who cannot be a team member and must be approved by their parent or legal guardian.
Evaluation Criteria
We are looking for applicants with strong answers to questions about what their idea or project is, how it will work, and how they activate others in their community. All applicants will also be evaluated on their ability to share their changemaking journey and how it has fueled this idea.
Remember, we are looking for innovative and creative ideas at all stages of development, which means it can be a new idea, or a fully baked one!
Entries will be evaluated on the following 4 criteria:
- Fueled by Community: The applicant’s idea demonstrates a deep understanding of and connection to the problem they are tackling. The applicant is informed by the people most impacted by the problem and is focused on making a difference in a community that is meaningful to them.
- Innovation: The applicant is creating something new, addressing an overlooked challenge, or bringing a unique perspective or solution to a well-known problem.
- Collaborative Leadership: The applicant has or plans to build a team and form partnerships or mobilize others to join in their initiative.
- Commitment: The applicant has concrete plans to grow their idea or venture, including how to access expertise, resources, and more. They demonstrate a commitment to stick with their project with actionable steps.
More tips on how applications will be evaluated:
As projects are evaluated, we will be using the scoring scale below for each criterion, we encourage all applicants to review it! This is a great tool to help make sure you are including all the required information in your answers: