Are you a small business owner with an amazing success story to tell? Since 1963, National Small Business Week has recognized the outstanding achievements of America’s small businesses for their contributions to their local communities, and to our nation’s economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration, Washington Metropolitan District Office is proud to announce we are accepting nominee applications for the 2017 National Small Business Week Award categories. 

Let’s show our support and appreciation of our local small business community by submitting nominees for the following award categories: 

Award Selections:
• Small Business Person of the Year Awards – anyone/self- nomination
• Small Business Exporter of the Year  - anyone/self- nomination
• Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year Award  - may only be nominated by a   Federal agency
• Small Business Subcontractor of the Year Award  - may only be nominated by a Federal prime contractor
• 8(a) Graduate of the Year Award  - anyone/self-nomination
• Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Award - anyone/self- nomination
• Women’s Business Center of Excellence Award - anyone/self- nomination

 Nomination Deadline: Monday, January 10, 2017 by 3:00 p.m.

For Guidelines visit:  www.sba.gov/nsbw/awards

Nomination Submissions :  Award nominations may be submitted in hard copy or hand delivered to:

U.S. Small Business Administration
Washington Metropolitan Area District Office
Attn: Shuraie L. Mackin
409 3rd Street, SW, 2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20416
Phone: (202) 205-6392

No matter which method is chosen, nomination deadline is January 10, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. ET.  SBA will no longer be using the Small Business Week online portal. All nomination packages may only be hand delivered or mailed to an SBA Office. Email submissions of SBA Awards forms will not be accepted as they contain personally identifiable information (PII). 

For More Information:  If you have questions about SBA’s award nominations or award criteria, please contact Shuraie Mackin at (202) 205-6392 or shuraie.mackin@sba.gov.

Note:  WMADO serves the District of Columbia, Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties in Maryland and Northern Virginia.  Small Business Week awards are based on state, not District Office territory. The District of Columbia is treated as a state for this purpose. Therefore, WMADO will select three Small Business Persons of the Year, Exporter of the Year, and 8(a) Graduate of the Year; one from District of Columbia, one from southern Maryland and one from Northern Virginia.  WMADO award winners from Maryland and Virginia will go on to compete for the respective State award against winners from Maryland and Virginia District Offices.   If they win at the State level they will go on to compete at the National level. The Small Business Person of the Year, Exporter of the Year, and 8(a) Graduate of the Year from the District of Columbia will go on to compete at the National level.  WMADO will host an awards ceremony during the first week of May to recognize all its local award winners.