Congratulations to Tom and Jenny’s Candies from Durham, NC – our overall winner of the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Pitch Room Wild Card Contest! Business owners Tom and Jenny Thekkekandam will advance to the 2015 Pitch Room Finals.

To help expand its coaching and mentoring program to more small businesses across the country, Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream partnered with Entrepreneur Media for the Pitch Room Wild Card Competition.

The virtual competition allowed small business owners in the food and beverage industry to submit a product sales pitch for a chance to win a $10,000 business grant and extended mentoring from Samuel Adams.

Entrepreneurs with a food or beverage product, uploaded two-minute videos, and a panel of experts from Samuel Adams and Entrepreneur selected the top 6 based on criteria that included pitch quality, creativity, passion and product viability. Those videos were then posted on Entrepreneur.com and the public was invited to vote for their favorite.

Tom and Jenny’s Candies was chosen by voters as the Pitch Room Wild Cardcontest winner and will now receive a trip for two to participate in the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Pitch Room finals this December. Held in New York City, the finals are the culmination of the overall Pitch Room Competition, which is designed to help entrepreneurs across the country perfect the art of the sales pitch. Congratulations Tom and Jenny Thekkekandam!