How winners are decided
Decided by public vote.
Five steps and the guard rails around them, set out here before anyone pays to enter.
You built it. Come and collect.
Entries open 1 October 2026. The first live nights are Melbourne, Thursday 17 June 2027.
- 25
- Counted votes to qualify for the shortlist
- 3 to 5
- Finalists the vote finds in a category
- 1
- Verified vote per person, per category
- 0
- Sponsors with a vote or a look at the count, ever
One of six
Five steps, in this order.
Decided by public vote. One verified vote per person.
Nothing about a result can be bought. Entering pays for your page, a sponsorship never includes a finalist place, and sponsors never vote.
Step 01
Apply
The entry fee pays for your page, never for the result.
Step 02
Connect your accounts
Link and lock your LinkedIn, your socials and your website. Your band is self-declared on one line. There is nothing to prove.
Step 03
Community vote
One verified vote per person, per category. The vote finds three to five finalists.
Step 04
The count
Every vote is checked for fraud and the count is independently certified. The finalist with the most counted votes wins, sealed until the night.
Step 05
Revealed on the night
The winner is revealed live on stage, and online the same moment. Entries and finalist counts are published, category by category.
Two of six
Step 02. Connect your accounts.
Link and lock your LinkedIn, your socials and your website. Your band is self-declared on one line. There is nothing to prove.
If you can be sacked by someone who is not you, you belong in the Executive Awards.
Step 02, part 1
Your accounts, locked
Connect your LinkedIn (required), your Instagram, TikTok, X or Facebook, and your business website. Each one is confirmed as yours, then locked to your entry.
Step 02, part 2
Your band, declared
Your revenue band for the most recent completed financial year, on a one line declaration. Nothing to send, nothing to prove.
Step 02, part 3
Years trading, declared
The month the business first traded, declared on the entry. Voters see your locked accounts for themselves.
Declared annual revenue
The band you compete in, and the rules that make it hold.
- 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.
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.
Three of six
Step 03. The community vote.
The Expo Awards are voted by the people who walked the floor, which limits itself and is easy to defend. A founder’s audience is their own customers and their own followers, so the vote is built to reward support, not list size: a threshold to qualify, bands so you only meet businesses your size, and every vote checked before it counts.
One verified vote per person, per category. The vote finds three to five finalists. The word the programme publishes is Qualified, at 25 votes, then the finalists. Never a running total.
Vote rule 01
Qualify, on a threshold
Anyone may vote, one vote per verified email per category, counted only when the link in the email is clicked. A paid entrant qualifies at 25 verified votes. That is the whole test. Vote 26 and vote 2,600 are worth exactly the same, and no running total is ever published. Your page says Qualified, or how far off it is, and nothing else.
Vote rule 02
Finalists, then the winner
The vote finds three to five finalists in a category, and the finalist with the most counted votes wins. The count is checked and independently certified, then sealed until the night. Totals are never published.
Where it breaks
Every voting mechanic has an attack on it. This one is published with its own, because a rule you only find out about after you lose is not a rule.
- Vote trading is the attack this does not fully solve. Entrants can form a bloc and swap votes, and in a thin category a bloc of ten decides it.
- Three things blunt it and none removes it: the bands keep every contest among businesses the same size; every vote is confirmed by email and checked before it counts; and reciprocal vote trading shows up in the data and is flagged and reviewed before the finalists are named.
- The honest position: this is resistant to list size, which is the attack that actually shows up, and only partly resistant to collusion at the shortlist.
The exceptions
- Product of the Year
- The vote is customers only. The voter confirms they have bought it.
- Employer of the Year
- Employees only, on a verified work email at the entrant’s own domain, minimum ten verified voters, ballots anonymous and never shown to the employer.
- Creator Entrepreneur of the Year
- One vote per person, like every category, and the entry page shows the business: revenue, products, brand deals and the team. Follower count is never shown on the page or counted as a vote.
- Podcast Entrepreneur, Creator Educator and Creator Brand of the Year
- The same as Creator Entrepreneur. Downloads, followers and subscribers are never counted as votes.
- Creator of the Year, and Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Creator Entrepreneur of the Year
- The same as Creator Entrepreneur. Followers, views and subscribers are never counted as votes. A platform award is for the business built on that platform.
Four of six
Step 04. The count, checked and sealed.
Every vote is checked for fraud and the count is independently certified. The finalist with the most counted votes wins, sealed until the night.
Sponsors never vote and never see the count. The rules are published before the vote opens.
01
Published before the vote
The rules are published before the vote opens, so every entrant knows how the count works before anyone votes.
02
One verified vote each
One vote per person, per category, confirmed by email. A vote counts only when the link is clicked.
03
Checked for fraud
Bulk, bot and traded votes are flagged and removed before the finalists are named, and the count is independently certified.
04
Sealed until the reveal
The finalist with the most counted votes wins. The result stays sealed until the winner is revealed on the night.
Five of six
Step 05. Revealed on the night.
The winner is revealed live on stage, and online the same moment. Entries and finalist counts are published, category by category.
Revealed on the night
The winner is revealed live on stage at the country’s night, and online the same moment. A country without a night is revealed at the Virtual Awards Night.
What is published
The number of entries and the number of finalists, category by category.
What is never published
A running vote total, a leaderboard or a position. The vote says Qualified, then the finalists, then the winner.
Six of six
The guard rails.
Written into the rules, not left to goodwill.
2027 is the inaugural year. Nothing on this site will suggest a history the programme does not have.
In the rules
Guard rails
- Sponsors never vote and never see the count.
- No sponsorship package includes a finalist place.
- Reciprocal vote trading is flagged and reviewed before the finalists are named.
- The rules are published before the vote opens, and the count is independently certified.
Said plainly
Inaugural 2027
2027 is the first year, and every page, badge and release says so. There is no back catalogue of past winners, and nothing will suggest one.
The calendar to the first night
1 October 2026
Entries open
30 April 2027
Entries close
3 to 23 May 2027
The community vote, online. It shortlists the finalists
25 May 2027
Finalists announced
To 8 June 2027
The count is checked and certified, then sealed until the night
Thursday 17 June 2027
Winners revealed live on stage at the city nights, June to July 2027, and Dubai in November and Riyadh in November, and online the same moment. Melbourne first
The Entrepreneur Awards
Nominate someone. Or apply yourself.
Entries open 1 October 2026. The first live nights are Melbourne, Thursday 17 June 2027.