Categories
You built it. Come and collect.
Entries open 1 October 2026. The first live nights are Melbourne, Thursday 17 June 2027.
The Entrepreneur Awards
What you get out of it.
01 · From the day you go live
Awareness
Your own page at expys.org, a vote card sized for every feed, and the Nominee 2027 badge for LinkedIn and your website.
02 · Through the vote
Connection
Every vote is someone you asked, by name, clicking to back you. Finalists are invited to their country’s night, in the room with the other finalists.
03 · From the vote
Authority
Decided by public vote and independently certified. Finalist or Winner 2027 is a title you can put on LinkedIn, your site and your next proposal.
04 · On stage
Recognition
Winners are revealed live on stage, and online the same moment, and take home the trophy, the window decal, an article, a press release and an interview.
05 · At the live night
Experience
Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, London, Frankfurt, New York, Dallas, Toronto, The Expys Middle East and Riyadh: June to July 2027, and Dubai in November and Riyadh in November. Winners in the room are photographed and filmed on stage and leave with the edit and vertical cuts to post.
One of five
Split by declared annual revenue.
Revenue is the one number that means the same thing in all twenty four industries. Headcount does not: a three person software firm and a forty person cleaning firm can both turn over US$2m, and the cleaning firm is not forty times the achievement. Stage is worse again, because it is a word rather than a number and it can be argued down.
Every one of the 24 industries exists three times over, once per band, with its own winner.
Band 1 of 3
Rising Star
Under US$250,000 a year
One person, or a founder and a first hire. Revenue exists and is proving itself.
Band 2 of 3
Established
US$250,000 to US$5,000,000 a year
A team, a payroll and a real book of customers.
Band 3 of 3
Leading
Over US$5,000,000 a year
A company with layers, and a founder who no longer touches the work.
- Self-declared on the entry, for your most recent completed financial year, in US dollars at the rate on the day you enter.
- You sign a one line declaration, the same weight as the show entry already on this site.
- The ratchet. You may move up a band in a later year. You may never move back down.
- The headcount floor. Rising Star is capped at four people including you, however small the revenue.
Two of five
Twenty four industries.
Every industry runs three times, once in each revenue band, so each one produces three winners in your country rather than one. You enter the industry you trade in and the band your revenue puts you in.
24 categories times 3 bands is 72 awards in every country, of the 96 that take an entry.
- 01
Food & Beverage
Kitchens, drinks, packaged goods and everything that ends up on a shelf.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 02
Hospitality & Venues
Restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs and hotels. Covers, rooms and rosters.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 03
Retail & Ecommerce
Shops and online stores. Stock, margin and the customer who comes back.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 04
Fashion & Apparel
Labels, footwear and accessories, from the studio sample to the reorder.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 05
Beauty & Personal Care
Salons, clinics, skincare and the brands on the shelf behind the chair.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 06
Health & Medical
Practices, allied health, devices and the businesses that treat people.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 07
Fitness & Wellness
Gyms, studios, coaching and recovery. Memberships that hold.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 08
Building & Construction
Builders, trades, civil and the sites they run.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 09
Property & Real Estate
Agencies, development, management and investment.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 10
Home & Field Services
Cleaning, pest, garden, plumbing, electrical. The recurring visit.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 11
Manufacturing & Industrial
Factories, fabrication, engineering and the plant floor.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 12
Transport & Logistics
Freight, fleet, warehousing and the last mile.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 13
Agriculture & Primary Industry
Farms, growers, fisheries and everything that leaves the gate.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 14
Mining, Energy & Resources
Mining, energy, renewables and the services built around them.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 15
Software & SaaS
Software sold by subscription, built and shipped by a small team.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 16
Artificial Intelligence
Businesses built on models, agents and automation.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 17
Financial Services
Lending, advice, insurance, accounting and payments.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 18
Professional Services
Legal, consulting, engineering and the billable hour.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 19
Marketing & Creative
Agencies, studios, production and the work that sells.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 20
Media & Publishing
Titles, shows, podcasts and audiences that pay.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 21
Education & Training
Schools, colleges, courses and the people who teach.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 22
Travel & Tourism
Tours, operators, accommodation and the itinerary.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 23
Events & Entertainment
Events, venues, artists, production and the ticket.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
- 24
Automotive & Mobility
Dealers, workshops, fleets and whatever replaces them.
- Rising Star
- Established
- Leading
Three of five
Seventeen for how you got here.
These are about circumstance, not size, so they are not banded. Banding a circumstance makes it meaningless. You may enter one alongside your industry category.
17 awards in every country, unbanded, of the 96 that take an entry.
- 01
Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Under 30 on the day you enter. Built it young and built it properly.
- 02
First Business of the Year
Your first company, trading under three years. Nothing behind it.
- 03
- 04
Comeback Entrepreneur of the Year
Lost one and built the next. The business that came after the failure.
- 05
Bootstrapped Entrepreneur of the Year
No outside capital. Every dollar of growth came out of the business.
- 06
New Arrival Entrepreneur of the Year
Built the business in a country you moved to.
- 07
Regional & Rural Entrepreneur of the Year
Based outside the capital cities and trading anyway.
- 08
- 10
- 11
Creator Entrepreneur of the Year
Built a business on an audience: Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn or YouTube. It is the business that wins, not the follower count.
- 12
Podcast Entrepreneur of the Year
Built a business on a show people listen to. It is the business that wins, not the download count.
- 13
Creator Educator of the Year
Built a business teaching online: courses, cohorts and paid communities.
- 14
Creator of the Year
The creator of the year, on any platform. It is what the work built that wins, not the follower count.
- 15
Instagram Creator Entrepreneur of the Year
Built a business on Instagram. The business wins, not the follower count.
- 16
TikTok Creator Entrepreneur of the Year
Built a business on TikTok. The business wins, not the view count.
- 17
YouTube Creator Entrepreneur of the Year
Built a business on YouTube. The business wins, not the subscriber count.
Four of five
Seven for the company itself.
The company, not the founder. Deliberately unbanded, so a 200 person company can win Business of the Year, because the banded industry awards are where a solo business competes on level ground.
7 awards in every country, unbanded, of the 96 that take an entry.
- 01
- 02
- 03
Employer of the Year
The business people want to work at, voted by the people who do.
- 04
- 05
- 06
- 07
Creator Brand of the Year
A product brand launched on a creator’s audience and still selling once the posts stop.
Five of five
The ones you cannot enter.
4 roll-ups in every country and 8 at the Global Final, all of them derived from the winners underneath. There is no entry form for these, and no way in other than winning something below them.
A category with fewer than five paid entries rolls into its band champion, so a thin category is never quietly dropped and nobody who paid is demoted.
In every country
- Entrepreneur of the Year
- The country’s entrepreneur, taken from the 72 industry winners. No entry.
- Rising Star Entrepreneur of the Year
- The Rising Star band champion, and the home for any Rising Star industry with fewer than five paid entries.
- Established Entrepreneur of the Year
- The Established band champion, on the same terms.
- Leading Entrepreneur of the Year
- The Leading band champion, on the same terms.
At the Global Final, Las Vegas
The Global Icon Awards. Win one and you are an EXPY Icon.
- 01Global Entrepreneur of the Year
- 02Global Rising Star Entrepreneur of the Year
- 03Global Established Entrepreneur of the Year
- 04Global Leading Entrepreneur of the Year
- 05Global Business of the Year
- 06Global New Business of the Year
- 07Global Founder Story of the Year
- 08Global Social Enterprise of the Year
The Entrepreneur Awards
Nominate someone. Or apply yourself.
Entries open 1 October 2026. The first live nights are Melbourne, Thursday 17 June 2027.