The second annual National Capital Leadership Challenge kicked off late last month with the promise to give students even more hands-on experience than in 2008.

With the goal of finding business-savvy students who can take on leadership roles in technology companies, sponsors of the challenge hope the winners will remain in Ottawa after graduation, says founder Greg Boyle.

"It's an area that has been identified as lacking in our business community: leaders and people with business experience. So we're trying to nurture future leadership," he says.

"You have to do that by getting them interested in technology and also remaining in Ottawa; the best in breed is what we're targeting."

At least five students from a pool of 12 semifinalists will be selected from the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management and Carleton University's Sprott School of Business. Each student will be responsible for a presentation to CEOs showing how they solved a real-world problem using leadership and communication skills.

Winners will receive a project-oriented summer job at one of five local tech companies: Enablence Technologies Inc., Control Microsystems, Pleora Technologies, Bridgewater Systems Corp. and Plasco Energy Group.

"This is very attractive (to the winners)," adds Mr. Boyle, who is also a partner at Stonewood Group Inc. "Think of winning $5,000 and a summer job that will pay you another $10,000 or $12,000. It's a pretty attractive kind of assignment when you know part of it is mentoring."

That's a sentiment that Jonathan Dawe, a winner of last year's challenge, agrees with. The fourth-year business student spent a summer at Xmark Corp. last year thanks to his winning presentation about preventing the brain drain in Ottawa.

"It's been good in the sense that it opens up doors, and I've met a lot of different people," Mr. Dawe says, adding: "It's a chance to flex my managerial muscles if you will."

The deadline for submissions was Oct. 31, and presentations to CEOs of the five companies will take place in January.