National Small Business Week Award Nominations Open
By PAYTON MANDELL
October 22, 2026
4 min read
The Dominion Post file photo Owner Andrew Pintus III is seen training a German shepherd named Kaine inside Blue Mountain K-9’s indoor training building last spring.
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MORGANTOWN – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is now accepting nominations for its annual National Small Business Week 2027 awards, according to a press release. National Small Business Week will take place from May 2-8, 2027, celebrating the contributions of neighborhood businesses to the United States.
The SBA, founded in 1953, has been celebrating National Small Business Week for over six decades, recognizing hard-working business owners with network opportunities, national recognition, public relations kits, and social media coverage.
National awards include:
- Small Business Person of the Year
- Small Business Exporter of the Year
- Small Business Manufacturer of the Year
- Rural Small Business of the Year
- Blue-Collar Small Business of the Year
- Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year
District award categories are:
- Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year
- Family-Owned Small Business of the Year
Jim Spencer, SBA regional administrator, encourages West Virginia business owners to nominate themselves or their peers, stating, "I would love to see worthy nominations come out of West Virginia."
Eligibility requirements include:
- Being a U.S. citizen or national who owns 51% of a small business at least three years old.
- Being in good standing on federal obligations.
- Having received at least one type of SBA assistance.
Partners who jointly operate or own part of a business may be nominated as a team, with a maximum of four members.
Spencer emphasizes the SBA's role in helping small businesses showcase their strengths and access valuable resources, including loan assistance, counseling, and fraud reporting.
"It's a way to showcase what they can do. If you don't tell your story, someone else will, and you may not like how they tell it." he said.
This annual recognition week also helps the SBA understand how best to support small businesses at the federal level.