LAS VEGAS -- Ideas on new innovations were on display Monday during the 2006 NACS Global Scholarship Competition at the NACS Show 2006, with contestants presenting their ideas on concepts that could benefit the convenience and petroleum retailing industry in the coming years.

The winners of the competition were Kurt Edwards, trade marketing representative for British American Tobacco in Australia, and Tina Ackermans, marketing manager at Petro-Canada.

Edwards’ idea, M.O.THE.R, Music on the Run, focused on capturing the young consumer by providing a better way to download digital music. Ackermans’ presentation, Piece Meals, called for a healthy, easy alternative to fast food.

The Global Scholarship Competition promotes new ideas and information sharing in a global context to identify potential leaders of the convenience and petroleum retailing industry. The winners of this year’s competition won a trip to Shanghai, China, for the 2007 NACS Global Forum.

While the finals were held Monday at the NACS Show 2006, the competition began months earlier as industry associations across the globe searched for the best retailer and supplier representatives from their respective countries with an answer to the following question: “Identify an innovation that could benefit the convenience store industry in the next few years. What might be the implications of this innovation for convenience retailers, the supply chain and customers and communities served by convenience stores?

Edwards’ innovation, “M.O.THE.R, Music on the Run,” creates the “one-stop shop for all your music needs, single songs, albums, ring tones and more – download them, burn them, and love them.” Edwards said that M.O.THE.R offers a unique opportunity for retailers to grow profits in the communications sector while generating flow on sales through increased traffic and higher levels of customer loyalty.

Ackermans’ innovation combined convenience with healthy, balanced diets, proper portions and meals for later to create “Piece Meals.”  Piece Meals are individually packaged perfect portions of healthy, quick food in recyclable containers that can be eaten immediately or taken home for later. She said that she sees the benefits to the retailer as being able to attract the youth segment by entering a new revenue stream.

Details on the 2007 NACS Global Scholarship Competition will be announced in December.