The winners of an invention competition at the University of Wisconsin were announced Tuesday, earning $1,000 for competitors who had to create a marketable product in 100 hours.

Wiscontrepreneurship's challenge, lasting just more than four days, began April 22 on Earth Day. Twelve teams were given 100 hours and $10 for materials at Surplus With A Purpose, a store that sells used UW equipment, to piece together an invention.

"It sounds like a cliché, but our students are pretty incredible. They're talented, smart and they have fun," said event organizer Doug Bradley, of the UW Office of Corporate Relations. "What they saw in unused recycled material is incredible."

Matthew Brener worked alongside Erica Bjoraker and Matt Michalak to create "Reel Power," a hand-powered portable battery charger, and won in the "Most Creative" category.

Brener, a biological science major, said his group proved they have potential to be creative.

"It really showed us you don't have to be an engineer to design stuff," Brener said. "You don't need to be a business major to make a video and market your product."

Brittany Seabloom, an art major, partnered with Richard Qian and Jake Stauber to win "Most Value" with their creation, "Impregnated Wall Sconce."

Seabloom said she made the light fixture from old lab desk drawers and her skills in woodworking.

"The hardest part was the time restraint. It was only 100 hours," Seabloom said. "We needed to come up with the idea, gather the materials together (and) put it all together in a short period of time."

Also, Peter Dykstra received an award for "Most Social Value" and a bonus $100 for "People's Choice" for his design, "Renewable Water Supply."

The Wiscontrepreneurship is funded by a $5 million grant from the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, which is a national initiative focused on the development of entrepreneurial education, according to Bradley.

He said the grant aims to promote all aspects of UW's innovation opportunities.

"This isn't just for engineers and Business School students, but artists, history majors, teachers and so on," Bradley said. "Everybody has some type of entrepreneurial instinct. We want to make this fun, we want it to be creative, and we wanted them to realize there wasn't anything beyond their bounds."

With the grant, Bradley said the university will also look to discover why its students are successful, adding only Harvard fosters more future CEOs.

"There's something about this place," Bradley said. "Is it risk-taking? Creativity? Is it beer at the Union? We're trying to figure out how it is and what it is."

Bradley added the university would look to initiate curriculum programs to broaden entrepreneur classes to all colleges to generate more innovation by young people.

All winners will be honored tomorrow morning at Bascom Hall with Chancellor John Wiley and members of the Kauffman Campus advisory committee.