photo by: Douglas County

Eighth-grader Daniel Dao of Lawrence Virtual School won the Douglas County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026.

A Lawrence Virtual School student has won the Douglas County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge for the second year in a row.

The Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge is an annual competition for students in grades 6-12 in Douglas County where students pitch business ideas, including a written plan, trade show display and compete for cash prizes.

The student who won the 2025-2026 competition is eighth-grader Daniel Dao, and he won first place on Friday and received a $1,250 check, according to a press release from Douglas County. The competition was held at the Dwayne Peaslee Technical Training Center, 2920 Haskell Ave.

Dao’s business idea, BrainQuest, is an app that offers exercises grounded in educational research that is designed to strengthen critical thinking and problem-solving skills for users of all ages and backgrounds. Securing the win means Dao qualifies for the state competition in April in Manhattan.

As the Journal-World reported, Dao and his brother, Lawrence, won last year’s competition with their company called “Don’t Panic AI Tutors,” which would teach K-12 students about topics like AI literacy and ethics and how to best use AI in their daily lives. The brothers beat out six other business proposals from Douglas County students.

Dao competed against 13 other students on Friday, representing nine businesses that competed in the challenge. The other top-prize cash winners included:

• Second place – Senior Ian Bryan of Baldwin High School, $1,000. His business, IB Western Supply, provides handcrafted leather goods such as wallets, clips, belts, and everyday tools.

• Third place – Freshman Trudy Kirkland of Lawrence High School, $750. Her business idea, Mindful Machine, is a vending machine stocked with snacks and drinks made from clean, simple ingredients that fuel the body.

• Fourth place – Eighth-grader Abhirup Maity, of Billy Mills Middle School, $500. His business idea, Ecofy, aims to spread healthy and affordable plants globally.

• Innovate Globally Prize – Eighth-graders Libya Elshekhi and Abigail Poindexter and seventh-grader Penny Whittier, all of Billy Mills Middle School, $250. Their business idea, Pure Plate, is a restaurant rooted in both sustainability and culture.

This year’s judges included Chris Miller and Seth Johnson, of KU Small Business Development Center; Quinlan Carttar, of K-State Extension Douglas County; Allyssa Foster, entrepreneur; Kurt Spachek, Jack Oglesby and John Harrison, of Douglas County E-Community; and Sandy Gantz and Seth Johnson, both community members.