SBA Opens Nominations for 2015 South Carolina Small Business and Advocacy Awards

COLUMBIA, SC – The SBA South Carolina District Office is now accepting nominations for the 2015 South Carolina Small Business & Advocacy Awards, which honor the state’s top small business entrepreneurs and supporters. Two awards–the Small Business Person of the Year and Exporter of the Year–are also part of the SBA’s national awards program.

The deadline to submit a nomination is 3 p.m. Monday, January 5, 2015.

Awards include:

• Small Business Person of the Year (also part of the SBA’s national awards program) | Honoring the state’s top small business entrepreneur.
• Small Business Exporter of the Year (also part of the SBA’s national awards program) | Honoring the state’s top small business entrepreneur engaged in exporting.
• Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year | Honoring an outstanding small business entrepreneur who has been discharged or released from the U.S. Armed Forces under honorable conditions.
• Young Entrepreneur of the Year | Honoring an outstanding small business entrepreneur under 30-years-old as of June 1, 2015.
• Minority Enterprise Advocate of the Year | Honoring an outstanding advocate of minority entrepreneurship in South Carolina.
• Women in Business Advocate of the Year | Honoring an outstanding advocate of female entrepreneurship in South Carolina.
• Small Business Ally of the Year | Honoring a non-profit organization that has significantly supported and advanced small business development in South Carolina.

Details are available at http://1.usa.gov/1tFzZHP. (For additional national SBA award categories, such as federal procurement and disaster recovery awards, seehttp://awards.sba.gov.) For more information, contact Anna Huntley at[email protected].

All nominees and nominators will be notified of their award nomination status around March 2015. At this time, finalists for the 2015 Small Business Person of the Year award will be publicly announced, if applicable. Winners of all awards, including the Small Business Person of the Year award, will be announced around April 2015.

South Carolina award winners will be honored at the Salute to Small Business–the state’s annual Small Business Week event–in Columbia in spring 2015. In addition, the winner of the Small Business Person of the Year award will represent South Carolina at the SBA’s National Small Business Week celebration in Washington, D.C. Since 1963, National Small Business Week has recognized the outstanding achievements of America’s small businesses and their contributions to both their local communities and to the nation’s economy.