Round Two of Voting Now Open; 28 Hoosier Communities Represented

(INDIANAPOLIS) — The competition for the second Coolest Thing Made in Indiana tournament – which celebrates the state’s rich manufacturing history – has been fierce with thousands of votes cast, reports the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Round two voting is now underway with the remaining 32 teams from 28 communities around the state battling it out. Public fan voting for this round ends Thursday at 10 p.m. In the single-elimination bracket, each winner goes to the next round until the Coolest Thing Made in Indiana champion is crowned.

Online voting for the competition takes place at www.indianachamber.com/coolestthing.

The round of 32 field is comprised of manufacturers from Angola, Auburn, Bloomington, Columbus, DeMotte, Decatur, Elkhart, Fishers, Gary, Goshen, Greens Fork, Greenwood, Indianapolis, Jasper, Lafayette, Leesburg, Logansport, Merrillville, Nappanee, Nashville, Rensselaer, Sellersburg, South Bend, Syracuse, Upland, Wawaka, Westfield and Zionsville.

Decatur, Goshen, Indianapolis and South Bend have multiple companies left in the contest.

Voting for the second round concludes on Thursday, November 10 at 10 p.m. and overall on November 30. The timeline of each round of voting is as follows; all times noted are in Eastern Time.

  • Round 2: November 8-10 (at 9 a.m.; closes 10:00 p.m. Thursday)
  • Round 3: November 11-15 (at 8 a.m.; closes 10:00 p.m. Tuesday)
  • Round 4: November 16-18 (at 8 a.m.; closes 10:00 p.m. Friday)
  • Semis: November 21-23 (at 8 a.m.; closes 10:00 p.m. Wednesday)
  • Finals: November 28-30 (begins at 9 a.m.*; closes 9 p.m. Wednesday)

The champion will be announced December 14 at our 2022 Best IN Manufacturing Awards Luncheon, which also features the first honorees in the Indiana Best Places to Work in Manufacturing program.

Coolest Thing Made in Indiana sponsors are spirit sponsor Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP); gold sponsor Gibson; and silver sponsors Evonik Corporation, Insperity, Nucor Steel Indiana, SMC Corporation of America and The Horton Group.

Entry in the tournament is free. To participate, a company did not need to be headquartered in Indiana, but the product entered must be manufactured in the state. Companies are limited to having one product nominated for entry.

For fairness, the initial matchups were generated via an online randomizer, notes the Indiana Chamber.

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The Indiana Chamber partners with 25,000 members and investors – representing over four million Hoosiers – to achieve the mission of “cultivating a world-class environment which provides economic opportunity and prosperity.”