HOLYOKE

- A Smith College junior found a lot of support for her plan to create a line of high-tech bras for women she described as “voluptuous.” Sarah C. Perkins of Smith College had 90 seconds to pitch her Si Bella Bras with gel-filled straps and strategically placed, fabric-covered structure at the

Harold Grinspoon

Charitable Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Initiative Awards Ceremony & Banquet at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House Wednesday night in Holyoke. She won the West Springfield-based foundation’s “elevator pitch” contest, so called because 90 seconds is how long she’d have to wow a captive investor during a hypothetical elevator ride. She won $1,000. Amanda M. Hawley, of Granville, a marketing management student at Holyoke Community College, came in second with Catastrophe Relief Exchange Experience, a company that would help college students travel to the sites of natural disasters around the world as volunteers. She won $750. Brad T. Seislove, of Stowe, Ohio, a Springfield College senior majoring in business, was the third-place winner with Free-Ad-On-Mobile. His idea is to provide people with free cell phones if they agree to listen to commercials before placing a call. He received $500. Thirteen students from area colleges participated in the elevator pitch contest that was judged by business lending officers from Berkshire Bank, Country Bank for Savings, NewAlliance Bank, PeoplesBank, The Bank of Western Massachusetts and United Bank. The event also featured a trade show of 34 student-run businesses that have won Spirit Awards from the Grinspoon Foundation. Bryant M. Melluzzo, of

Springfield

, had samples of mulch from his business, Melluzzo Property Maintenance. He received his bachelor’s degree in business from Westfield State College in January. He said when a professor in an accounting class started talking about depreciation, his hand shot up. “Can we pretend that this is about the truck I just bought?” Melluzzo said. “Everything I learned about in my business classes meant more because I was putting it into practice right then.” Melluzzo, 35, lost his job making paper when the MeadWestvaco plant in Lee downsized. Each Spirit Award winner received a cash prize of between $500 and $2,000, said Gail W. Olmstead, an associate professor of business at Springfield Technical Community College who coordinates the college’s Grinspoon programs. “I’m so impressed with all these entrepreneurs,” philanthropist Harold Grinspoon said. “They are our future.”