As money is tight, the incentive to participate in enterprise competitions may even be more obvious than ever. Here is a list of competitions that can help you get on your way:

The Start-up Stars of 2009 of HSBC
The ninth annual HSBC Start-Up Stars awards is open to start-up businesses all over the UK. All entrants will be eligible to win the 2009 Start-Up Star Award. The winner will receive a cheque for £25,000, £5,000 of Google advertising and free consultancy at Google’s UK headquarters. There are three categories to win in:

• Start-Up Star International Award – recognising those companies that have expanded their business into international markets
• Start-Up Star Green Award – recognising those companies that are particularly driven by environmental issues
• Start-Up Star Graduate Award – an award for university students and post-graduates (who have graduated within the last year). Must be a UK business trading for less than 3 years or a business ideas that is due to launch within a year. You can apply for this award even if your business is not off the ground yet.

The London Technology Fund Competition
This competition is for technology SME's. The company must be based in London,  be at the seed stage (having an idea), start-up stage (prior to trading) or early stage of development (and still losing money at the pre-tax level). Prizes include:

• a share of up to £1m in investment funding
• £100,000 worth of training and advice
• access to a speed-dating event to meet major technology corporates and their venture capital arms.

The deadline for submission of entries is 30th May 2009.

The third-annual Women 2.0 Pitch 2009: Start-up Competition
is open to early-stage ventures around the world, from high growth business ventures in web 2.0 to mobile and biotech, consumer clean tech to consumer hardware. Applying companies must be in beta-stage and have not received significant funding. Teams with at least ONE FEMALE in the founding team are invited to compete for a chance to win:

• One-on-one meeting with Michael Moritz from Sequoia Capital
• 3 months of office space and mentoring
  from Plug and Play Tech Center
• PR strategy from JonesPR
• Marketing strategy from MWW Group
• Legal support from Pillsbury

FIVE startups will be chosen to pitch live on Pitch Night (May 7th, 2009). ONE winning startup gets a meeting with Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital).
Deadline for applications is April 10.

London Business School Competitions
Every year  the London Business School hosts and takes part in a wide range of international competitions ranging from business plan competitions by and for students to finding and selecting the most promising security technology start-ups in the world.

More information about their different competitions and deadlines here.