Ohio State students will have the opportunity to get a little taste of celebrity status when the search for OSU’s 25 most beautiful people hits the campus.

The contest is the result of a marketing project developed by a class of business students in an effort to better market People magazine to college students.

The contest was developed because it is something that students could easily relate back to People , said Corey Steiner, a junior in transportation and logistics.

“We had to design a campaign to get more brand awareness around campus,” said Amy Starr, class coordinator for the project. “The contest, Ohio State’s 25 Most Beautiful People, ties in closely with an issue that People magazine distributes each year.”

The marketing project was brought to OSU students by EdVenture Partners, a company that coordinates marketing projects between universities and businesses, said Rao Unnava, professor of marketing.

OSU is one of five universities selected to participate in the People magazine marketing internship program. The other universities include Depaul University, Portland State University, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and the University of Southern California.

The search for OSU’s 25 most beautiful begins this week. Representatives from the class and the Buckeye Marketing Agency will be around campus all week registering students who think they could be OSU’s most beautiful.

In addition to searching for beautiful students, the group will also be selling People magazine subscriptions at a discounted price.

“People magazine thinks that one reason college students don’t read the magazine is that it is too expensive, so we are testing to see if it sells at a discounted price of 20 issues for 20 dollars,” Starr said.

Representatives will be at Hitchcock Hall and Jesse Owens South tomorrow, Schoenbaum Hall Thursday, and the Ohio Union Friday giving away free T-shirts to students who enter the contest or who buy magazine subscriptions.

The 25 finalists will be announced at the Chris Rock show Monday at the Schottenstein Center.

Next week, students will have the opportunity to vote online for who they think is OSU’s most beautiful at www.people.com/osu. The contest winner will be announced on March 1.