Awards Rules

• Business must be in operation for at least 12 months before becoming eligible.
• Business must be based and registered in British Columbia, Canada.
• Nominees must own (or will own) shares in the company, hold (or will hold) a senior executive title and/or be the chief decision maker.
• Franchisors are eligible as long as the total employee number for all franchisees is under 50.
• Past Small Business BC Awards winners are prohibited from entering the category in which they won.
• Nomination applications must be submitted online by 11:59pm on March 10th, 2023.
• Nominees must satisfy the eligibility criteria listed for the category they’re entering.
• Nominees must not operate businesses that are sexually exploitative or that feature sexually explicit entertainment, products or services.
• Nominees must not be associated with illegal activities.
• Inappropriate, disrespectful or offensive language will not be accepted as part of Small Business BC Awards

• Small Business BC retains the right to update the rules of the Small Business BC Awards at any time. 
• Franchisees are NOT eligible for the Small Business BC Awards.
• Small Business BC staff members are not eligible to enter.
• Businesses may be nominated in our Premier’s People’s Choice category, plus one other category, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria for that category.
• By entering the Small Business BC Awards, you accept our judges’ decisions will be final.
• All shortlisted finalists authorize SBBC to identify them (name/picture) in connection with the Small Business BC Awards.

• Businesses can be nominated by a third-party or by themselves (first-party).
• In the case of third-party nominations, the owner/s of the business nominated will be notified to confirm their participation and fill out the application form, before the nomination is published.
• In the case of third-party nominations, the name of the nominator will be released to the nominee with their permission.
• Contest entries must be submitted online through the Small Business BC website.

• Voting will be open from January 16th until 11:59pm March 10th, 2023.
• Only one vote per person is allowed, per nominee, per category. Voters can vote once for their favourite business in every category they’re nominated in.
• All votes will be normalized based on the latest BC Regional District population figures in order to create equal opportunity for businesses based in every community in the province.
• Votes cannot be interpreted as an endorsement or determination of future success of your business.

Applies to our Business Pitch Categories

• Judges will assess the information provided by each finalist in their nomination form. Nominees are encouraged to provide as much information as they deem appropriate.
• As a Top 5 Finalist in one of our Business Pitch categories, nominees will be requested to present a 10-minute pitch remotely to a judging panel via Zoom.
• Pitches will take place in mid-April 2023.
• Pitches will be followed by a short Q&A session with the judging panel.
• Following the pitches, the judging panel will decide on the winners of the Business Pitch categories based on the category criteria.
• Judging decisions are final.
• Winners will be selected on the day of the pitch but not announced publicly until our Gala ceremony on June 2nd.

• Each of our four category winners will receive a cash prize of $10,000.
• In addition, all finalists will be presented with a one-year all access pass to Small Business BC education and advisory services valued at approximately $5400.
• The one-year all-access pass includes:
  • All Access to SBBC education webinars – unlimited for one year
  • Monthly “Healthy Business Check up” Strategy Sessions with Business Plan Advisor for one year (12 sessions).
  • Monthly Market Research Advisory Sessions with Market Research Analyst for one year (12 sessions). This excludes customized market research reports and prospect lists.
• Note that the all-access pass is one per finalist business. Any employee of the finalist business may participate on behalf of the business owner. However, only one person may access SBBC resources at any given time
• All services must be accessed during a one-year period commencing June 2nd, 2023 and ending June 1st, 2024.
• All finalists will receive a unique coupon code in the all-access pass and must register for webinars or book advisory sessions online through www.smallbusinessbc.ca
• Fulfillment is based on availability at time of booking.
• Advisory service and webinar descriptions can be found at www.smallbusinessbc.ca
• Monthly bookings cannot be taken all at once i.e.: 12 hours of advising in one month
• SBBC’s terms, conditions and cancellation and rescheduling policies apply and can be found here: https://smallbusinessbc.ca/terms-conditions/
• Small Business BC retains the right to make changes to the all-access pass and to end the privilege if rules are not followed.

• January 16th, 2023: Nominations and Voting open
• March 10th, 2023 (11:59pm): Nominations and Voting close
• March 14th, 2022: Top 5 Finalists announced
• Mid-April: Judging Period (Top 5 pitches)
• June 2nd: Small Business BC Awards Gala and winner announcement