In 2021, we were inspired by the hard-working entrepreneurs who were creative, determined, and supportive of their communities in an extremely challenging time. Our annual Small Business BC Awards present an opportunity to show these business owners some love, validating their efforts and highlighting the impact they make in our lives.
With that in mind, we are pleased to announce the 19th Annual Small Business BC Awards are now open for nominations and voting. Whether you’re a business owner, or you want to show some love to your favourite small business, take a moment to nominate them for one of our awards and celebrate in their success.
SBBC Awards Categories for 2022
This year, our Awards consist of two categories, our new Business Impact Award, and our returning Premier’s People’s Choice Award. Our Top 3 in the Business Impact Award and the winner of our Premier’s People’s Choice Award will split a prize pool of $15,000, as well as a one-year all-access pass to SBBC education and other amazing prizes. Let’s take a look at each of our categories:
Business Impact Award
The SBBC Business Impact Award, sponsored by Coast Capital Savings, goes to the business owner(s) that are truly making a difference. These hard-working individuals embrace the challenge of entrepreneurship, displaying skill in areas like sales, marketing, logistics, finances, and operations. Their organization has taken positive action to invest in the community and sees social responsibility as an integral part of business success. Prizing will be awarded as follows to our Top 3 businesses:
1st Prize: $8,000
2nd Prize: $4,000
3rd Prize: $1,500
Premier’s People’s Choice Award
This unique award category, sponsored by the Province of British Columbia, is presented to a BC-based small business that can demonstrate they have the unwavering and loyal support of their community.
The criteria for winning is simple: Get more votes than any other business. Nominees are tasked with using any imaginative, creative or traditional tactics available to them to engage customers, clients and neighbours to vote for them. At the end of the process, the business with the most votes from their community is our winner. Our winner receives the following cash prize:
1st Prize: $1,500
SBBC Awards Rules for 2022
For simplicity’s sake, most of our rules are carrying over from last year. Our headline rule remains that our contest is open to all new and existing businesses in BC with fewer than 50 employees. Businesses can be nominated in both our categories if they meet the eligibility criteria, and we encourage businesses to enter both categories to maximize their chances of success.
Visit our Rules Page to see the full breakdown.
Virtual Award Ceremony
The 19th Annual Small Business BC Awards will be delivered virtually in 2022, with a video presentation designed to celebrate the achievements of our province’s small business champions. Tune in and watch inspiring short films; get to know the passion behind why our finalists started their own business, the challenges they’ve overcome, and why small businesses are so important to our province.
Our Awards presentation will occur April 28th, 2022 and we’ll have information on how to register and take part soon.
2022 Small Business BC Awards Timeline
- January 20, 2022: Nominations and Voting open
- February 28, 2022 (11:59pm): Nominations and Voting close
- March 14, 2022: Top 5s announced
- March 28, 2022: Judging Period (Top 5 pitches)
- April 28, 2022: Small Business BC Awards presentations
