Your Ideas, Unleashed: The SpiritBank/TCC Entrepreneurial Spirit Award launches tonight.

I know I write often about ways to get to know your town, and I know I keep adding to the list, but I have yet another city discovery tool to share with you.

A great way to get to know your town is to establish and grow a business there.

Tonight marks the kick-off the SpiritBank/Tulsa Community College Entrepreneurial Spirit Award. The event, which will be bursting at the seams with Tulsa businesspeople and influencers, will get started at 5:30 p.m. at Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, 111 E. First Street.

If you're looking to start or grow your business in Tulsa, this event would be an ideal place to stop making excuses and start living your dream.

Never heard of the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award? It's a reality TV-style, multi-round competition for the folks in town whose idea files of business concepts are full to bursting. Tons of free cash, prizes and services are at stake. The grand prize? Thirty thousand smackaroos.

The kick-off event will provide entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs with opportunities to discover the success factors for winning the Spirit Award. Who better to ask than past winners, right? Good thing some of them are going to be there tonight.

Does this Entrepreneurial Spirit Award thing sound like something you might like to tackle? Entrepreneurs can submit their executive summaries to the Spirit Award Web site starting today. The deadline is May 13. The competition is open to anyone who owns a business that has been in operation for up to five years, or simply an idea for a new business in the city of Tulsa. Entrants need not be based in Tulsa, but they must agree to establish or expand in Tulsa if they win.

Because why would anyone want to do business anywhere else?

To learn more about the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, check out the official rules.