Does your company have what it takes for the Business Bowl?

Would you like the opportunity to treat 50 co-workers and friends to a day with the Manchester Wolves at Canobie Lake Park? How about season tickets to the Wolves games, a road trip with the team and bragging rights as the winner of the first annual New Hampshire Business Bowl?

Then it’s time to enter your business in this unusual and fun competition, to be held May 16 at Brady-Sullivan Field at the Verizon Wireless Arena during the Manchester Wolves-Tulsa Talons arena football game.

Hosted by the New Hampshire Business Resource Center (part of the state Division of Economic Development), New Hampshire Business Review and the Manchester Wolves, the evening will begin with a free business appreciation reception at The Pavilion at the Hilton Garden Inn Manchester Downtown, followed by the competition and the football game.

The evening’s theme is teamwork, which is as necessary in business as it is on the playing field, says Roy Duddy, director of the Business Resource Center. “The competition will be on the extreme side, and winning will require a sense of humor and teamwork.”

Top prize will include the first Business Bowl trophy, the opportunity for team members to travel with Manchester Wolves staff to the July 18 Wolves-Albany Conquest game at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., free admission for 50 people to “Manchester Wolves Day” at Canobie Lake Park on July 19 and Wolves 2008 season tickets for each team member.

Second- and third-place teams will also receive Wolves 2008 season tickets for each of their three team members.

Those interested in competing in the Business Bowl should submit a short essay (up to 300 words) on how their workplace embraces the concept of teamwork. The deadline has been extended, and essays must be received by 4 p.m., Friday, April 25. They should be e-mailed to sboucher@dred.state.nh.us. Entries will be judged by a committee made up of members of the Manchester Young Professionals Network (MYPN) and its counterpart in Nashua, IUGO.

According to Chris Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce, MYPN and IUGO “help young professionals connect with each other, other businesses, employers and their communities. We’ve been working with the governor’s office on the retention of young professionals in the state. What’s exciting about the Business Bowl is it’s giving us a new way to connect with the economic development community.”

“It’s important for us to be involved in events like the Business Bowl that reach out to the business community. Our organizations embody the young, dynamic and skilled workforce that is critical to New Hampshire’s ongoing economic development,” said Kate Benway, chair of MYPN’s board and marketing manager at the Manchester Economic Development Office. “Our members are the future leaders of business in the Granite State.”

Duddy said he hopes young professionals throughout the state will encourage their businesses to attend the free pre-game business appreciation reception.

“The reception is designed as a networking event that will give attendees the opportunity to learn more about the free services and incentives the state offers businesses — essentially how we can be a part of their team.”

Attendees to the free reception will also learn how businesses can get their stories told in the media during a short presentation by Jeff Feingold, editor of New Hampshire Business Review, and Peter Morris, general manager of the Wolves, will talk about teamwork and the value of local ownership.

While attendance at the pre-game business appreciation reception will be limited to 50 people, attendance at the Manchester Wolves-Tulsa Talons arena football game is open to all businesses, with tickets being sold for $10 that are normally $19 to $29. Half of the proceeds from the sale of the tickets will benefit the Bobby Stephen Fund for Education, a scholarship program begun by the Business Resource Center’s director of community development services, Bobby Stephen, to benefit disadvantaged students.

“We set the fund up as a nonprofit in 1995. Since then we’ve provided 125 scholarships,” said Stephen. “We’re especially proud that 96 percent of the students we’ve helped get started in higher education have stayed in and graduated.”

Stephen said many of the scholarship recipients have been part of New Hampshire Jobs for America’s Graduates, a program for youth who seek to overcome obstacles in attaining a high school education and in pursuing career and post-secondary educational interests. “They’re not just in the teens and early 20s. Some are older students going to college to make a better life for their families. We believe that programs like this help make our community a better place to live and help create the workforce our businesses need.”

Reservations for the event and tickets for the game are available by contacting the Manchester Wolves at 603-627-WOLF (9653).