When the New Product Design Competition was held in Halifax in April, the winning prize of $11,000 went to Surround Shower, a team that aims to add comfort and enjoyment to showering.

Founded by St. Mary’s University commerce students Logan Inglis and Evan Higgins, Surround Shower is a dual-head shower fitting that lets you enjoy streams of hot water from two directions. The product has a standard head that fits on to a shower outlet, and a second head that uses an industrial-strength suction cup to mount on the facing wall. (Check it out on this video.)

“We split the water flow to two shower heads, bringing the luxury of multiple shower heads to the everyday consumer without having to redo plumbing,” said Higgins last week. “Surround shower does not use any excess water and it does not have less water pressure compared to a modern shower head.”

In early April, Surround Shower was one of 32 teams to enter the New Product Design Competition offered by The Spark Zone, the sandbox (or entrepreneurial education facility) shared by six Halifax educational institutions. The student teams are charged with producing a consumer product, and the winners receive some money to help with the launch.

As the month progressed, the number of competitors fell until there were four teams competing for the top prizes. Surround Shower captured the top spot, which meant they received $10,000 plus $500 for each team member. The runner-up was a team called Go Sonik, which has come up with a chemical-free product that keeps fleas and ticks off pets.

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Now the Surround Shower team has set its sights on trying to bring their product to market. They are working on a business model in which the product would have a retail price of $79.99. However, they want to ensure the product features a really strong and durable suction cup, so the overall price could rise if they find the cost of suction cups exceeds their expectations.

Their plans are fluid but Higgins said the duo is considering producing 250 units and selling them in the Halifax market through August. That would prepare the ground for a launch at the Montreal Fall Home Expo in October.

Another option they are considering is crowdfunding Surround Shower to bring in more development capital and increase the product’s profile. The team is due to meet with Michael Sanderson of SMU’s Business Development Centre, who has been encouraging them to consider a Kickstarter campaign.

One issue they have to tackle is how to protect their intellectual property, and Higgins said some of their prize money would be used to consult a lawyer on IP protection.

Meanwhile, Higgins and Inglis are also focusing on their academics. Inglis is graduating this month with a degree in commerce, major in finance. He now works at Dartmouth Dodge in a marketing position. Higgins is due to graduate in December with a bachelor of commerce, major in marketing. Part of their education was learning to start a business through the New Product competition.

“It provided some sort of a skeletal model on how to get a business going,” said Higgins, reflecting on the competition. “Usually you have a lot of ideas that don’t go anywhere and it was really cool to take a business idea and see how far we could run with it.”

Disclosure: St. Mary’s University is a client of Entrevestor.