How It Works

This year, we’re offering four categories, and the process works differently depending on the category.

Our Premier’s People’s Choice Award is decided entirely by a public vote.

Our three Business Pitch Categories (Business Impact Award, Best Youth Entrepreneur, and E-Commerce Success Award) are decided based on a combination of votes received as well as the content of their application. The Top 5 Finalists in these three categories will be required to make a ten-minute pitch to a panel of business experts, explaining why their business should win the award.

You can enter the Premier’s People’s Choice Award and one of three Business Pitch Categories.

Keeping to a maximum of two categories allows each business to focus their efforts and prevent their vote from being split. It also gives more businesses across our province an opportunity to win.

When completing your nomination, the answers you provide will be examined as part of our judging process, along with your votes, to determine the top 5 finalists in each category. Don’t be shy in sharing your successes!

No. Vote tallies will not be made public on the Small Business BC website or made available to nominees. Because a normalization calculation (see the next question) is applied to the votes to determine the Top 5 finalists, pure vote numbers are not indicative of performance in the competition.

We understand that all BC communities are different sizes and that different businesses have different sized networks. To level the playing field, votes will be normalized against British Columbia Regional District Population Figures.

If you made a mistake or typo in your nomination form and realize after submission, you can edit your submission by logging into your account.

Once your nomination is published, you’ll be given a dedicated page on this site where you can send your supporters to vote for you. Brag about your business through social media, e-mail and on-site promotions. Let your customers, employees and colleagues know about your nomination through whatever ways you can think of. Don’t be afraid to shout it from the rooftops.

Remember, the deadline for votes is March 10^th, 2023.

It’s entirely up to you. When you nominate a business, you have the option to remain anonymous, or to give permission to us to share your name with the business should they request it.

Yes! Download our Community Kit featuring key messages, social media prompts and more.