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 are open. Winners are announced online.
- 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 in Round 2, finalists only, wins, sealed until the winners are announced.
Step 05
Announced online
The winner is announced online at The Virtual Awards Night. 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.
- Revenue alone sets the band. Headcount is asked for your entry page and never moves you up or down.
Band 1 of 3
Rising Star
Under US$1 million a year
A founder still proving the revenue. However many people you employ.
Band 2 of 3
Established
US$1 million to US$5 million a year
A team, a payroll and a real book of customers.
Band 3 of 3
Leading
US$10 million plus 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 in Round 2, finalists only, wins. The count is checked and independently certified, then sealed until winners are announced. 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 in Round 2, finalists only, wins, sealed until the winners are announced.
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 announced
The finalist with the most counted votes in Round 2, finalists only, wins. The result stays sealed until the winner is announced online.
Five of six
Step 05. Announced online.
The winner is announced online at The Virtual Awards Night. Entries and finalist counts are published, category by category.
Announced online
The winner is announced at The Virtual Awards Night, streamed. Anyone can register to watch.
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
27 September 2026
Entries open
From 27 September 2026
Round 1 of the community vote, online. It decides the finalists
30 July 2027
Entries and Round 1 close, everywhere
Monday 9 August 2027
Finalists announced
9 to 29 August 2027
Round 2, finalists only, counted from zero. It decides the winners
Before winners are announced
The count is checked and certified, then sealed until winners are announced
June 2027
Winners announced online at The Virtual Awards Night, streamed
The Entrepreneur Awards
Nominate someone. Or apply yourself.
Entries are open. Winners are announced online.