It’s SBA Awards Time!

Whoo hoo! Can you feel it in the air? It is nomination season for the SBA Awards! Our goal is to receive more nominations than ever before by 2pm January 10, 2017!

We will help! We can work with your staff on preparing a nomination package. We come to you, you come to us, or we arrange a webinar. Just ask!

Each year we give three kinds of district awards:

Small Businesses that have demonstrated excellence (5 categories).
Champion awards which are given to individuals or organizations that support entrepreneurs (5 categories).
The Houston Cup, a big, shiny, impressive trophy that changes hands from year to year, and goes to the organization with the greatest number of nominations. Last year’s winner was the Texas Gulf Coast SBDC.

There are also national awards for lenders, resource partners, and disaster assistance (listed below).

A Small Business nomination is easy. All that is required is:

A narrative to support the award criteria
Brief 1-page bio with a photo of the nominee
No Financial Statements! Just a 3-year summary of sales, profits, assets, liabilities, net worth, and employee counts.
Finally, two obligatory government forms (nomination and background)

The complete list of all awards is below. Those highlighted in yellow will be awarded here in Houston, while the others will only be awarded nationally.

We are eager to see receive your nominations! The awards ceremony will be May 2017. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions, or to let anyone at SBA Houston know how we can help you. Award details can be found at www.sba.gov/tx/houston .

Small Business Awards	Description
Small Business Person of the Year	An individual or partnership. District and National.
Small Business Exporter	An individual or partnership engaged in exporting. District and National.
Young Entrepreneur	An individual or partnership under 30. District Only.
Family-Owned Business	A family business which has passed from one generation to the next with at least a 15-year track record. District Only.
Entrepreneurial Success Award	A business that has grown to be a large business and received SBA assistance to help them grow. District Only.
8(a) Graduate	Awarded to a formerly certified 8(a) Program participant. National Only.

Champions	Description
Financial Services Champion	An individual who has volunteered to give financial assistance to small business, advocated for change, or similar. District Only.
Home-Based Business Champion	An individual who has championed home-based business via volunteer efforts and advocacy.District Only.
Minority Small Business Champion	An individual who has championed minority business via volunteer efforts and advocacy.District Only.
Veteran Small Business Champion	An individual who has championed veteran business via volunteer efforts and advocacy.District Only.
Women in Business Champion	An individual who has championed women-owned business via volunteer efforts and advocacy.District Only.

Resource Partners	Description
Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Center Award	Honors a SBDC Service Center for excellence and innovation in assisting small businesses. National Only.
Veterans Business Outreach Center Excellence in Service Award	Honors the VBOC for excellence in providing value to the veteran small business community by increasing the number of veteran small businesses. National Only.
Women’s Business Center of Excellence Award	Honors a WBC for its excellence and innovation in assisting women entrepreneurs. National Only.

SBA Lenders	Description
Jody C. Raskind Lender of the Year	A lender that has demonstrated extraordinary demonstrable impact to underserved small businesses and communities. National Only.
Small Business Investment Company	Presented to the SBIC that has enhanced access to capital for America’s small business. National Only.

Disaster	Description
Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery	Any individual who owns or bears principal responsibility for a small business that suffered physical damage following a disaster and received an SBA physical disaster loan. National Only.
Phoenix Awards (2) for Outstanding Contributions by a Public Official and an Volunteer	Any public official or private citizen that made an outstanding contribution to a community’s recovery following a natural disaster. National Only.
Federal Procurement Awards (3) 1. Small Business Prime Contractor 2. Small Business Subcontractor 3. Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence (large business)	1. Federal agencies may nominate firms for the Small Business Prime 2. Only large federal primes may nominate for a Small Business Subcontractor Award. 3. Recognizes large prime contractors for utilization of small businesses. National Only.