Two Wisconsinites are among the seven winners in the Upper Midwest region of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year contest.

Richard Meeusen, top executive at Badger Meter Inc. in Milwaukee, and Mark Platt, president and CEO of Multistack LLC in Sparta, were honored Thursday at a dinner in Milwaukee.

Four of the other winners were from Minnesota and one was from North Dakota, Ernst & Young said in a news release Thursday morning. The Upper Midwest region also includes South Dakota.

All seven winners are eligible to compete in Ernst & Young's national contest that culminates in a ceremony in November in Palm Springs, Calif.

Ernst & Young also awarded a special lifetime achievement award to Jeffrey Curler, executive chairman of Bemis Co. Inc., Neenah, for his leadership in building that business into a major supplier of flexible packaging and pressure-sensitive materials. Two high school students - Matt Meis of Stevens Point Area Senior High School and Ethan Pedretti of Holmen High School near La Crosse - were named the region's Ernst & Young Youth Entrepreneurs, and each received a $1,000 scholarship.

The rest of the Midwest winners are:

Lee Anderson Sr., chairman, APi Group Inc., New Brighton, Minn. - Master category

Joel Hazzard, president and CEO, Ergotron Inc., Eagan, Minn. - Consumer products category

Ronald Konezny, CEO, PeopleNet, Chaska, Minn. - Technology category

Daniel Johnson, president, SearchAmerica, Maple Grove, Minn. - Services category

David Meyer, CEO, Titan Machinery, Fargo, N.D. - Distribution category