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Excellence Award

Small Business Award

A small business award should be something you earned in the market, not something you bought from a banquet. Awardly issues Excellence Awards from two public signals: Google ranking in the business’s category and a verified star rating.

We do not sell plaques. We do not take an entry fee. If the data supports gold, silver, or bronze, the business gets a public profile and a badge it can put on the site.

Nominate a business See past winners

Small business award criteria

Every recipient has to clear the same published criteria:

Top-tier local ranking in its primary category on Google over the prior 12 months.
Verified 4.5+ star rating with at least 25 verified Google reviews — not a one-week spike.
An active, accurate profile (claimed listing with current hours, address, and contact information).

Tiers (gold / silver / bronze) follow how strongly those signals hold, not how much someone paid. Search “small business awards 2026” and you will find chambers, local business awards, SBA week, and pay-to-enter contests. Awardly is none of those. Review is continuous — there is no nomination deadline and no ticketed gala.

If you were told you need to apply with a credit card, that is a different product. Home-service owners comparing the Angi Super Service Award or a Google Guaranteed badge can use Awardly as an independent mark.

Nominate a business See past winners

What winners can show

The award is useless if it lives in a PDF. Winners get a public profile on Awardly and HTML they embed on the homepage or footer. No subscription to keep the badge live.

People searching “small business award cost” get a straight answer: $0 to receive and $0 to display. If we ever charge for extras, it will not be the price of the award itself.

Browse who already won when recipients are listed. Nominate someone you already trust, or write us if we already issued yours and you need the claim link from the invitation.

Frequently asked

Common questions

What are the best small business awards if I don’t want to pay to enter?

Programs that score public performance, not invoices. Awardly uses Google ranking and reviews. Skip anything that requires a paid submission to be considered.

Does a small business award cost anything with Awardly?

No. There is no fee to be reviewed, to receive gold, silver, or bronze, or to display the badge.

How do I put the award on my website?

Open the public Awardly profile, copy the embed HTML, and paste it on the homepage or footer. If you do not have the snippet yet, write us on the contact page or use the claim link from the invitation.

Ready?

Nominate a business or claim your listing.

Send a name, category, and city. If we already issued the award, use the claim link in the invitation — or write us and we will point you to it.

Nominate a business See past winners