WeWork brings its Creator Awards competition to China

Global co-working space service provider WeWork has brought Creator Awards – the competition open to entrepreneurs, performers, startups and nonprofit organizations – to China this year in an attempt to address the country’s call for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Candidates can submit their applications from Jan 25 to March 13. The final competition in China will be held April 12 in Shanghai. Winners for the China competition will be able to go to the global final to be held in New York in 2019.

The Creators Awards is made up of four award categories: new venture, performing arts, nonprofit and community giver. Award winners will be granted prizes, working space and a membership at WeWork. The prize amounts range between $18,000 and $360,000.

WeWork has organized this competition in seven countries worldwide and has brought it into China this year for the first time. The company has granted over $14.8 million in prizes to participants. More than 14,000 candidates worldwide have joined in the competition. Up to 150 job opportunities have been provided via this competition.

As WeWork China’s general manager Alan Ai explained, partners and platforms are sometimes even more important than financial support to startup owners. Therefore, they have introduced this competition to bring aspiring entrepreneurs together, which is also one of the major functions of WeWork.

Meanwhile, WeWork is showing its continued confidence in the Chinese market by planning to reach another eight Chinese cities this year, including Nanjing, Wuhan, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Shenzhen, according to Christian Lee, managing director of WeWork Asia.