We do a lot of hand-wringing in our industry about the lack of young talent and the urgency of recruiting the good ones before every single independent agent in America leaps lemming-like into retirement. We've known for a long time that insurance has an image problem and that we can't keep applying the same principles to recruiting and hiring and expecting a different result.

But smart organizations are doing something about attracting young people by going directly to the source. That's the thinking over at The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, which recently announced a new student competition that not only targets young people, but was designed by them.

Sponsored by its FAME charitable and educational arm – the Foundation of Agency Management Excellence – and open to risk management students at FAME's universities, the “Dream, Risk, Win” competition challenges teams of up to five students to craft a plan addressing a complex industry issue over the course of an academic semester. The bait? A top award of $10,000.