Ira Sohn Conference and Competition

On May 25th, 2011 the legendary Ira Sohn Conference will take place at the Lincoln Center with an amazing lineup of speakers. In my humble opinion, this year's slate of presenters is arguably the high quality in the history of this fantastic event. The 2011 speakers include:

• Bill Ackman
• Jeff Aronson
• Eike Batista
• Jim Chanos
• David Einhorn
• Steve Eisman
• Dr. Marc Faber
• Philip Falcone
• Steve Feinberg
• Joel Greenblatt
• Jeffrey Gundlach
• Mark Hart III
• Robert Howard
• Carl Icahn
• Erez Kalir
• Peter May
• Dinakar Singh
• And comments from Michael Price and Ken Langone

The Ira Sohn Research Conference Foundation's mission is the treatment and cure of pediatric cancer and other childhood diseases. Ira Sohn, from who the foundation takes its name, was diagnosed with cancer in 1989 at the age of 24. He succumbed to cancer four years later. In 1995, Doug Hirsch (Seneca Capital), Lance Laifer, Daniel Nir (Gracie Capital), and Sohn's mother Judith Sohn created the Ira Sohn Research Conference Foundation, a miraculous organization that has invested over $20M in research to fight cancer and fund pediatric care. For more information, please check out their brochure.

Maybe even more exciting than the actual conference: This year, the first ever Ira Sohn Investment Contest will be taking place. Here are some details:

• Participants submit their best investment idea (long or short) with a market cap over $1 billion
• The winner will be selected by a panel of judges for the "most compelling investment idea with a one-year horizon
• The judges (wait for it...): Michael Price, Bill Ackman, David Einhorn, Joel Greenblatt, and Seth Klarman!
• The winner of the contest will present the investment idea, in a ten minute presentation at the Ira Sohn Conference...talk about exposure!
• The entry fee is $100 ($25 for students), fully tax deductible

Detailed rules can be found here: Ira Sohn Investment Contest Official Rules

I, for one, have already started thinking about an investment (s) to present to the judges. I am excited about the opportunity to have some of the most elite portfolio managers in the world look at, ponder on, and debate an original investment idea of mine. EVERYONE should be applying - not only because it's a world-class cause, but because if you win, and you are up there presenting your investment idea, my hunch is things are going to look pretty good in your professional career going forward no matter whether you are still in school, raising capital for a fund, already managing a book, etc

For more details about the Ira Sohn Conference, please visit the conference webpage: http://www.irasohnconference.com/ ... Distressed Debt Investing will be there taking notes conference notes, and dare I say it, tweeting in real time all the action. Hope to see you there.