Wharton will host two competitions on pitching Philly as an Amazon HQ2 site

The Amazon HQ2 battle rages on, with cities across North America hustling to prepare their proposals ahead of the looming Oct. 19 deadline.

On that day, cities vying to host a massive $5-billion headquarters in their midst are due to submit their pitch on why they’d be a good deal for the Seattle-based ecommerce giant. In Philly, City officials and a few members of the entrepreneurial community have already started gathering thoughts. As some organizations have already pointed out, the decision will likely come down to what subsidies are on the table.

In the meantime, Wharton has partnered with the City of Philadelphia to host not one, but two competitions centered around Philly as an Amazon HQ2 town:

• a writing competition put forth by the Wharton Communication Program
• a business-case competition developed by Wharton undergraduate students

City officials are scheduled to attend the competitions, according to a Wharton spokesperson.

“Wharton likes to think big,” Lori Rosenkopf, vice dean of the school’s undergrad division, said in an email. “School leaders and students have teamed up for two complementary contests that harness the entrepreneurial, analytical and communications talent on Penn’s campus. We can’t wait to see what our students will produce and feel confident their ideas will support the City of Philadelphia’s efforts to bid for Amazon’s second headquarters.”

(Here’s one idea on where a massive corporate campus like Amazon is proposing might even fit in Philly.)

The contests are slated to go down on the last day of Finals Week (because, why not) Friday, Oct. 13.