Several students from Central Iowa were winners last week in a statewide entrepreneurial competition sponsored by venture capitalist John Pappajohn and the five John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers in the state.

Three $5,000 seed capital grants were awarded Dec. 10 in the Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan Competition. One went to Joshua Dreyer, a University of Iowa political science major who graduated from Hoover High School in 2000, and Igor Dobrosavljevic, who graduated from Drake University with a computer science degree and a business minor.

They developed software called Doctors Notes, which can be used with a handheld computer to organize patient information. Dreyer and Dobrosavljevic designed the program to reduce the time spent making notes and the mistakes caused by misreading written notes.

Matt Ostanik of Johnston, a graduate student at Iowa State University, also won a top award. His plan creates an online service that will automate the paperwork generated by architects while buildings are under construction.

Also winning from ISU was the team of Doug Houghton of Ames, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering; Melanie Davis of Minneapolis; and Shahzaib Younis, a native of India. Their business plan was done for a newly formed Ames-based research and software development firm that is creating an interactive travel tool for tourists, to be used by state tourism boards.

Nominations were collected at the Pappajohn centers, and 13 regional winners were chosen from Iowa, Drake, Iowa State, the University of Northern Iowa and North Iowa Community College in Mason City. They presented their plans to Pappajohn and members of his Equity Dynamics staff Dec. 10 at the John and Mary Pappajohn Center for Higher Education in downtown Des Moines.