For Spring 2026, students are asked to propose a solution to a specific global wildlife coexistence issue: Human-Carnivore Conflict and Coexistence in Working Lands.

Human-Carnivore Coexistence: Human-carnivore coexistence is a global challenge with an urgent need for real-world solutions. Successful coexistence means finding ways for people and large carnivores to share the same landscapes in ways that support both sustainable carnivore populations and human wellbeing. In reality, this is challenging and necessitates reducing direct conflict between people and carnivores and social conflict between people about carnivores and their management. Throughout history, people and carnivores have often come into conflict, leading to impacts on communities and the killing of carnivores. 

One of the most common flashpoints globally is when carnivores prey on livestock, or other animals humans care for. Addressing these challenges requires creative, non-lethal, proactive (i.e., before conflict occurs) approaches that help prevent livestock losses while supporting working wildscapes. Doing so requires innovative thinking, diverse perspectives, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and solutions that consider ecological, social, economic, and political realities.

Info Session: On February 24th, 2026, at 5:00pm, we will hold an info session in Michael Smith Natural Resources Building, Room 345, where you can enjoy pizza while learning more about the competition, seeing example solutions to address carnivore conflict, and meet other interested students to form your team with. After a series of presentations that will help give proposal ideas, there will be opportunities for you to ask questions and share and receive feedback on your own ideas. This will also be an important opportunity to meet other undergraduate students from other colleges in order to meet the two-college-per-team requirement.

Competition Day: Competition day will be held on April 30th, 2026, (location to be decided). During the competition, Handprint Challenge finalists will give a 10-15 minute Shark Tank-style presentation to a panel of judges and an audience. You can do a talk, PowerPoint, video, or presentation format of your choice. Presentations should be creative! Have an invention idea? Share a prototype or a schematic. Creating a social enterprise? Talk through your business plan. After presentations, you will have a 10-minute question-and-answer session with the judges. After all finalists have presented, there will be a social with heavy hor d’oeuvres and industry leaders while the judges deliberate. The event will end with an award ceremony for first-, second-, and third-place winners.

• The Handprint Challenge is only open to undergraduate students.

• Teams must include three students exactly.

• Teams must represent at least two colleges.

• In order to be considered to present on competition day, teams must submit proposals to Cole.Purdy@colostate.edu and Allison.Brody@colostate.edu by March 13th at 5:00pm.

• Winnings will be split evenly amongst team members and are subject to taxes (the winning amount shown is before taxes).

• Competitors must be 18 years of age or older.

Your proposals should, at minimum, include the following three clearly labeled subsections: 1) problem identification, 2) proposed solution (not a research project), and 3) team member introductions. Proposals should be clear, logical, and free of errors. 

Solutions should be creative ideas to advance the coexistence of humans with carnivores. You can propose an invention, the development of a social enterprise, a human behavior change campaign, a policy brief, or anything your team can devise to improve coexistence. You can see example solutions on our website and during the info session, which we recommend you attend.

Proposals should highlight your interdisciplinary student team and reflect on how the proposed solution would work in practice, including how non-academic partners (e.g., practitioners, community members, stakeholders) would be involved. Successful proposals will demonstrate students’ comprehension and application of collaborative conservation principles.

Be sure to include:

• Problem Identification (no more than 1 page): Provide a description of the specific human-carnivore coexistence issue, including the carnivore species, the specific location (e.g., state, country, region, etc.) in which the conflict is occurring, and who the conflict is with. Provide sufficient background on the history of the conflict so that the judges can understand why a solution for coexistence is needed.

• Proposed Solution (no more than 1 page): Provide a description of the solution you will be proposing to reduce conflict and facilitate coexistence in the context you’ve identified. Research and be familiar with all aspects of your solution, whether it includes engineering, business, ecology, law, or any other creative intervention. Be sure that the proposed solution and the approach to implement the solution clearly articulates transdisciplinary and collaborative approaches. If you include a figure or diagram, this will not count toward the page limit.

• Team Member Introductions (no more than 1/2 page): Introduce the team members, including their colleges, majors, how they supported the proposal, and what their roles in this project will be.

By competing in this competition, team members agree to be photographed by Colorado State University and agree that photos may be used in future promotions for the university and the departments/units affiliated with the Handprint Challenge. All ideas, concepts, and proposed solutions developed by student teams remain the intellectual property of the students. Warner College of Natural Resources and Colorado State University do not claim ownership of, or rights to, any student intellectual property submitted as part of this competition. By submitting an application, teams and team members agree to release and hold harmless the Warner College of Natural Resources and Colorado State University and its donors/partners and any of their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies and all others associated with the development and execution of this competition and their respective officers, directors, shareholders, agents and employees (collectively the “Released Parties”) from any and all claims, injuries, damages or losses to the person or property and/or liabilities of any nature that in any way arise from participation in this competition or acceptance or use of a prize. In the event that the competition is compromised by non-authorized human intervention, bugs, virus or other causes beyond the control of the Warner College of Natural Resources or Colorado State University which corrupts or impairs the administration, security, fairness or proper play of the competition, Warner College of Natural Resources or Colorado State University reserves the right in its sole discretion to modify, suspend or terminate the competition or any portion thereof and/or terminate the participation of any team or team member whose conduct potentially compromises the Competition.