SBA seeks nominations

The New York District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration is soliciting nominations for the New York State 2010 Small Business Person of the Year and eight other small-business categories.

Winners from each of the 50 states will go on to compete for the National Small Business Person of the Year.
For this award the SBA is seeking companies that have demonstrated growth, success, job creation and/or retention and community involvement. The winner will be honored this coming April at a ceremony in New York City, and will then be invited to attend the National Small Business Week ceremony in Washington, D.C., May 23-25, 2010.

The SBA is also seeking nominees in the categories of: Family Owned Small Business of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Small Business Exporter of the Year.

To honor advocates of the small-business community nominations are being sought for:  Financial Services Champion, Minority Small Business Champion, Veteran”™s Small Business Champion, Home-Based Business Champion and Women in Business Champion.

“We are looking to our economic development partners, elected officials and individuals in New York City, Long Island and the downstate counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester to nominate the best and most deserving small businesses and champions for these awards,” said Pravina Raghavan, SBA district director in New York.

The postmark and hand-delivery deadline for nominations is Nov. 30, 2009. Nominations should be submitted to Ana Hernandez, U.S. Small Business Administration, 26 Federal Plaza, Rm. 3100, New York, NY, 10278. Nomination criteria, guidelines and forms can be accessed at  www.nationalsmallbusinessweek.com. Self-nominations are permitted. For information, call (212) 264-9487.