Since its conception in 2013, the University of Missouri-Saint Louis has hosted the Midwest Digital Marketing Conference (MDMC). This year, conference organizers have announced a startup pitch competition as part of conference programming. This offers an opportunity for digital marketing startups to pitch their ideas in front of potential users and customers and be eligible to win a cash prize of $2,500, sponsored by Purina.

Last year, over 50 speakers including representatives of BuzzFeed, Pandora, Refinery29, Pinterest, Under Armour, Johnson & Johnson, Eloqua, Ogilvy One, Google, Yahoo, Nielsen, eHarmony and LinkedIn took the MDMC stage. Attendance records were set with 1,367 digital marketers.

This year, MDMC will take place April 12-13 at St. Louis Union Station. The MDMC Entrepreneurship Competition will reward the highest quality digital startups located in the Midwest to compete.

Through an application and interview process, five startups that will be selected and invited to attend with the following benefits:

• Pitch in front of target market
• Two conference passes
• Free parking for both days of the conference
• Free display booth
• Discounted hotel accommodations
• Given access to select speakers including Facebook, Google, Pinterest, or others
• $2,500 cash prize for winner sponsored by Purina

The judging process will begin by having applicants fill out a questionnaire (online here) by Feb. 24. Top applicants will be notified by March 3 to proceed to the second round, a 15-minute interview. The top five applicants, based on the interview sessions, will be notified by March 10 and invited to pitch at the conference. The pitch will take place on the second day of the conference.

For more information on the conference, go to umsldigitalconference.com.