2026 Salute to Small Business Application

SALUTE TO SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS

2026 APPLICATION
Application & Supporting Documents Deadline:

Thursday, June 18, 2026
ELIGIBILITY:
Businesses must be active members of Commerce Lexington and have completed three (3) or more full years of operation in the local market with fewer than 150 employees. Small businesses can apply for ONE award category. Past Category and overall Small Business of the Year award recipients are not eligible to reapply for 5 years from the date of their award presentation. APPLICATIONS ARE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL.

SELECTION PROCESS:
Small business award applicants are judged by an anonymous group of Commerce Lexington Members. The names of the category winners are released approximately a month prior to the Salute to Small Business Awards Luncheon. The Commerce Lexington Small Business of the Year is then selected from the category winners (excluding Nonprofit Community Impact) and announced at the awards luncheon.
Award Categories

Note: Small businesses can apply for ONE award category. Past Category and overall Small Business of the Year award recipients are not eligible to reapply for 5 years from the date of their award presentation. Nonprofit Community Impact award winner is not eligible for the Overall Small Business of the Year Award.
Business Success

The best small businesses within a community not only provide exceptional products or services but have become part of the fabric of the city. This award exemplifies both business and civic leadership. Community involvement, good management practices, overall financial performance, and workplace culture and employee relations are the primary criteria for this category. Tell us about unique aspects of your business, such as enhanced services for customers, workplace flexibility initiatives, logistics adjustments, and/or expansion efforts.

Achievement in Entrepreneurship

This award celebrates a visionary entrepreneur who has turned an idea into a successful and growing business. The individual must serve as a majority owner and operate or bear principal responsibility for operating a small business with at least a three-year track record. Evidence of success as measured by sales and profits, increased employment opportunities created by the nominee’s business, development and/or utilization of innovative or creative business methods and demonstrated entrepreneurial potential necessary for long-term business success and economic growth.

Excellence in Minority Business

The Minority Business Award recognizes an ethnically-owned member business, which is defined by Commerce Lexington as a business that is 51-percent owned, operated, and controlled by a person within the following racial and ethnic groups: African American (individual of Black race of African origin or parentage); Hispanic American (Latin American culture, origin or parentage); or Asian American (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, Indochinan, Malaysian, Fillipino, native Hawaiian or other Pacific Island culture, origin or parentage). Tell us about the unique aspects of your business, such as enhanced services for customers, workplace flexibility initiatives, logistics adjustments, and/or expansion efforts.

Nonprofit Community Impact

To be considered for this award, the organization must highlight its services, fundraising efforts, its impact and return on investment, ability to inspire and engage volunteers, maximizing its output and reach to a wide variety of groups and people within the community. Nonprofit Community Impact award winner is not eligible for the Overall Small Business of the Year Award.
Note: It is advised that you complete your form in one session. Information may not be saved. You may want to view questions below, complete them in another document and copy answers over to this application if you need more time to complete.
Company Name
Company Website
Owner Information

Owner's NameTitle
Address

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState / Province

Postal / Zip Code
Business Phone
Format: (000) 000-0000.
Email Address
# of Employees
See verbiage below to calculate this number
Number of employees can be calculated as up to 150 full-time employees or a combination of full-time and part-time employees, where part-time employees count as half of a full-time person. For example, if you had 10 full-time employees and 20 part-time employees, your total number of employees would be 20. Full-time ______ + Part-time divided by 2 ______ = ______ Total # Entered Above
Date Business Established
Award Categories
Please select the award category for which you wish to apply.
Minority Business Information
Choose Race/Ethnicity of Majority Owner
Other
About Your Company
Provide a one-paragraph current description of your business: (Guideline: Try to capture the core business concept including the markets or clients served and the product or service uniqueness in approximately 5 to 7 sentences. Think of the “About” section of the company website.)
Company History: Briefly describe the history of the business. This may include the year of its formation, growth as far as employees, productivity, improvements and/or financial measures.
Corporate citizenship exhibited through contributions to the Bluegrass community: Describe how your company is involved in community outreach activities, such as membership in Commerce Lexington, service on committees, volunteer efforts, “green” or sustainable efforts, etc. and/or specific industry or professional organizations. Awards you have received or significant accomplishments within these organizations should be included at the end of the application.
Tell Us Why: In a concise statement, describe the qualities and performance that merit the award for which you would like your business to be considered.
Challenges/Solutions
COMPETITIVE CHALLENGES FACED: This profile should also include the major challenges faced by your business during its formation or growth and the solutions you chose to overcome the challenges. These challenges may include: Business competition, loss of clients, economic downturn, loss of key personnel, lack of qualified workers, natural disaster, product obsolesce or any other factors.
SOLUTIONS / RESULTS: In describing the solutions, you may want to focus on insights of owners in managing resources including, but not limited to: time management, new human resource management, financial management, technology management and/or vendor or stakeholder management. Be sure to indicate the changes in your company’s performance as a result of implementing the solutions. (If applicable, include any innovative practices that your company has implemented in the past year in response to the changes in the economy or other unexpected challenges. Did this innovation result in reduced expenses or improved operation and efficiency for your company)?
Additional Supporting Documentation

To provide judges with a complete picture of your business, it is beneficial to include other significant supporting documentation including: Examples of financial statements (all kept confidential), news clippings, letters of recommendation, or other documents, which support the application.
Upload Supporting Documentation Here

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Application & Supporting Documents Deadline:

Thursday, June 18, 2026
Salute to Small Business Awards Presenting Sponsor
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SALUTE TO SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS

Award Categories

About Your Company

Challenges/Solutions

Additional Supporting Documentation