Jason Oakley, owner of RECESS! and full time student at Memorial University, has been named the 2010 Student Entrepreneur Newfoundland Champion by national charitable organization Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE).

Since 2008, Jason has owned and operated RECESS! Weekly, a company whose mission is “to generate profit while creating job opportunities for post secondary students to make money and gain professional experience.” RECESS! is a free, unique student publication that consists of several games and activities that students can enjoy in their free time. Within the first year of creating his company, Jason had made a profit of over $10,000 through advertising space sales.

Jason’s largest business accomplishments to date include turning his one campus business into a national franchise opportunity by developing a profitable and easy to use business model, having the first RECESS! Franchise at Mount Saint Vincent University where they are putting that model to the test, as well as launching recessweekly.com -- a website that allows franchisees to easily publish their weekly editions of RECESS! using an online publishing tool.

“Being able to compete in this competition has been a goal of mine for a long time,” Mr. Oakley said. “This is an amazing opportunity to not only promote the RECESS! franchise to the perfect audience, but also compete with some of the most successful student entrepreneurs in Canada.”

As a provincial champion, Jason will now move on to represent Newfoundland in the regional round of competition taking place at the 2010 ACE Regional Exposition in Halifax on Feb. 26, 2010. Provincial champions will each present their business to a panel of entrepreneurs and industry professionals who will determine two regional champions, who will each receive a $1,000 cash prize and move on to the final round of competition at the 2010 ACE National Exposition in Calgary on May 12, 2010.

The national champion will receive a $10,000 cash prize and represent Canada at the international level of competition, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.