The College of Communication & Information was well-represented last weekend at the inaugural “Start-Up Tally” competition, a 54-hour event that culminated with one team  chosen Sunday evening for $20,000 in start-up financing and prizes for its business proposal.

The winning team of 11 included five CCI students. Its product was Wordio, a software program that converts text to speech for mobile devices (http://mywordio.com/)

CCI students on the team were Pascal Wagner and Diego Corzo, undergraduate students with dual majors in Information Technology and Business; Dietrich George, an IT major; Deborah Roberts, a graduate student in Integrated Marketing Technology; and Aldo De La Paz, also an IMC graduate student  who got his undergraduate degree in IT here at FSU.

Three other undergraduate IT majors participated in the competition: Boyd Hathaway, whose team developed a product called Nightlys to push discounts from restaurants and bars; Alex Hunting, whose PointCatcher developed a  points/reward card networked to local stores; and Tyle Kalarchian, whose team developed Club Hero, a social jukebox allowing users to influence club and party playlists.

Dr. Jonathan Adams, an associate professor in the School of Communication and director of CCI’s Digital Production Group, is a member of Start-Up Tally’s organizing board.

The Tallahassee Democrat published a story in its Monday, Oct. 3, 2011, editions about the event.