Twenty-four-year-old Milun Tesovic was named the winner of the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Thursday in Kansas City, Mo. Tesovic, a student at Simon Fraser University and a Vancouver native, won $150,000 in cash and donated services for his development of MetroLyrics.

Tesovic first came up with the idea for MetroLyrics at age 15, when he realized that song lyrics were some of the most-searched topics on the Internet, yet traditional search engines were often inaccurate or incomplete. Tesovic responded by creating what has become the most popular lyrics site in the world, reaching more than 35 million unique monthly visitors, receiving 100 million monthly page views, and ranking as the fifth largest music Web site worldwide. MetroLyrics.com is the exclusive lyrics partner for all AOL Music properties, Billboard.com, MTV and many other popular music sites.

In addition to taking the title of Global Champion, Tesovic also received the GSEA Innovation Award for his creativity and unique approach to business.

Each year the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) recognize the top university students who are currently running a business while taking a full course load of classes. Supported by the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), GSEA is unlike traditional business plan competitions, as it celebrates student entrepreneurs who are running fully operational businesses. This year, GSEA grew by 66 percent, and expanded to more than 27 countries around the world.  The Finals were judged by an international panel of entrepreneurs, journalists, philanthropists and experts in the fields of business development, at the Kauffman Foundation headquarters in Missouri.

This year's first runner-up, 21-year-old Yale University student Richard Littlehale, also claimed the Social Impact Award for his national non-profit organization, Party for a Cause, which helped to raise thousands of dollars on college campuses. In 2008, Littlehale also founded YouRenew.com, a green electronics company that allows people and organizations to responsibly recycle and re-market old electronics. This year's second runner-up, Singapore Management University student Lawrence Kim, was recognized for his multi-million-dollar-earning marine inspection company, Ebenezer NDT Services. In addition to creating two other companies, Kim started "Eliezer" which provides more than $100,000 to help young entrepreneurs start and sustain their ventures. Kim also won the "Lessons From the Edge" award.

This year, the competition also premiered two new Global Student Entrepreneur Awards -- one for high school students and one for graduate students. High school freshman and CEO Leanna Archer started her beauty products company at age 9, using secret formulas passed down from generations of women in her family. Today, Leanna's Inc. grosses $600,000 in annual revenue and earned her the honor of GSEA's High School Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Along with five master's degrees, and a stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks minor league team and USA baseball team, William Rosellini is now president and CEO of MicroTransponder Inc., a company developing medical devices that can wirelessly control the nervous system and alleviate chronic pain. Rosellini won the Graduate School GSEA for his success in running the hundred-employee firm MicroTransponder while pursuing his Ph.D. in neuroscience.

tags: 2009 global student entrepreneur award, GSEA, innovation award, kansas city, kauffman foudation, lawrence kim, leanna archer, milun tesovic, richard littlehale, simon fraser, singapore, social impact award, william rosellini, Yale University