Business, finances, forex

Applying for an award or contest can bring your business added recognition and publicity. Awards also fire up your employees! Customers pay attention to awards, too.

Winning awards or contest won’t happen by chance e.  It’s up to you to take action.  Here’s a list of awards and competitions we recommend checking out:

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DYMO – Win Expert Advice for your Small Business

DYMO Endicia has partnered with ecommerce and business experts Marsha Collier and John Lawson to bring small business owners the chance of a lifetime:

Two lucky business owners will win a 1-hour phone consultation with either Marsha or John. Ask your burning business questions, get expert advice, and discuss your management strategies with online sales and marketing gurus.

Dell $100M Innovators Credit Fund

Dell has launched a $100 million Innovators Credit Fund, with the purpose of helping entrepreneurs “maximize potential for innovation, speed to market and job creation.” The credit fund will offer both funding and technology resources with IT support, depending on what each start-up needs.

To be eligible, you must have already received some angel funding or venture capital before you can apply. Start-ups can get up to 10% of its current funding or up to $150,000 with limited credit terms. See website for details and application.

Big Break for Small Business
Enter by July 13, 2012

Five small business owners will receive house calls from American Express OPEN and Facebook branding experts who conduct in-depth marketing makeovers. Winners will also receive $25,000 in cash to implement the social strategies they learn from the makeovers.

The local communities of the winning businesses will also benefit. Winning businesses can invite other local entrepreneurs to meet a panel of social media and marketing experts to teach them how to use social channels for their business. See website for details and to enter.

Crain’s 2012 Best Places to Work in NYC
Enter by July 13, 2012

This survey and recognition program is dedicated to identifying and recognizing New York City’s best employers. Publicly or privately held businesses with at least 25 full or part time employees are eligible to enter.

Small Business Influencer Awards 2012
Enter by July 15, 2012

The 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards are now open for nominations! The Influencer Awards honor companies, organizations, apps and people who have made a meaningful and lasting impact on the North American small business market. Impact may mean (i) providing products widely used by significant numbers of small businesses, or (ii) influencing significant numbers of small businesses by being a thought leader, or (iii) providing information or services of note to significant numbers of small businesses. Nominate here.

Rock Your Biz Blogging Contest
Enter by July 30, 2012

Join BizSugar.com for the Rock Your Biz Blogging Competition through July 30, 2012, to learn some great tips on how to take your business to the next level with online networking, blogging, or social media. Gain exposure for your company and a chance to win some cool prizes including an iPad3 from Grafton Media, incorporation or LLC filings from Corpnet.com, mind mapping subscriptions from MindMaple, Amazon gift cards, and credits from JustRetweet.

To enter, simply write and publish a blog post on your blog, sharing tips or advice on how to use online networking, blogging, or social media in a small business. Then submit it for voting at BizSugar under the “Rock Your Biz” category.

DailyCandy Start Small, Go Big Contest
Enter by August 3, 2012

The 2012 “Start Small, Go Big” contest, sponsored for the third year in a row by Ink(SM) from Chase, includes mentors from some of the biggest names in fashion, home, beauty and food including Rebecca Minkoff, Jonathan Adler, Lauren Moffatt, Christiane Lemieux of DwellStudio, Lev Glazman & Alina Roytberg of Fresh, Alison Pincus and Susan Feldman of One Kings Lane, and more. Categories for entry include Fashion, Home, Food & Drink, Health & Beauty, and Digital & Tech. See website for entry details.

Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition
Enter by August 8, 2012

The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition is an annual international business plan competition in Michigan. The event is the world’s largest business plan competition with more than $1 million in prizes. The goals of the competition are to promote Michigan as a venue for innovation and opportunity and stimulate job creation.

The New York Times Make Your Pitch Contest
Enter by August 29, 2012

Submit your pitch on video, telling about your product or service, your marketing plans, your customer base. Tell what makes your business different — why it is one to watch? Do you need capital? If so, how much and what for? Most important, how are you going to make money?

All video pitches that meet the submission guidelines will be featured on The New York Times small-business Facebook page and selected pitches will be featured on the New York Times You’re the Boss Blog.

PITCH NYC 2012
Enter by August 31, 2012

After hosting the successful 5th Annual PITCH 2012 in the Silicon Valley, Women 2.0 is excited to launch the inaugural PITCH NYC Conference & Competition 2012 (PITCH NYC 2012).

Open to early-stage high-growth ventures around the world, PITCH NYC 2012 invites companies with at least one female in the founding team to apply. Applying companies must be in beta stage and have received less than a million in funding. They are looking for the most disruptive web/mobile ventures, connected device companies, double and triple bottom line ventures, etc. Prizes include $25k cash, services and more.

See website for entry rules (you have to send in your business plan on a napkin!)

The list of awards and competitions is brought to you by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit our Small Business Events Calendar.
If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through our Small Business Event and Contests Form (it’s free).

Please note: The descriptions provided here are for convenience only and are NOT the official rules. ALWAYS read official rules carefully at the site holding the competition, contest or award.

From Small Business Trends

Get Recognition and Valuable Rewards from These Small Biz Contests

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Officials said the detail of what that would entail had to be finalised, in an outcome that is likely to prolong uncertainty that has dogged the industry

The UK oil group had expressed interest in potentially joining Gazprom in a project to extend the Nord Stream gas pipeline but has opted to withdraw

With a new capping stack ready to act as a stop valve against an oil well blowout, drilling can soon start in the fresh fields of the Arctic

Move reflects investors’ shift back into riskier markets and away from the dollar, in which oil and most other commodities are priced

Move to suspend trading follows row between management and rebel shareholders that left the company with just one board member

Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov has vowed that his government will try to compensate Bulgaria’s poorest for a raise in the price of electricity that is to enter in force Sunday.

Bulgaria’s energy regulator, the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, announced Friday that the price hike will be as high as 13%, not the expected 10%, which were already seen as too steep.

“There are some 300,000 poor people in Bulgaria whom the Ministry of Labor and Social policy has to help via energy aid so that they don’t feel this raising of electricity prices,” stated PM Borisov Saturday.

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Over 2,000 people gathered for the 5th annual Sofia Gay Pride, which is taking place in the Bulgarian capital Saturday.

LGBT people, as well as heterosexual citizens, joined the event to express their desire for equal rights to all, and to protest against continuing discrimination against people of differing sexual orientations in Bulgaria.

The rally, which includes a march through central Sofia, and a concert later Saturady evening, is going on without any conflicts or violence.

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UK Minister of Foreign Affairs William Hague has called UN Security Council members to draft a resolution allowing the use of military force to tame the conflict raging in Syria.

Saturday a number of foreign affairs ministers are meeting in the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva in a so-called Action Group for Syria to discuss measures to be taken regarding the troubled country.

In his speech, Hague made it clear that his position still radically differs from that of Russia, represented at the meeting by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov.

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The second bridge over the Danube linking Romania and Bulgaria at Calafat and Vidin will be ready by the end of the year, announced Bulgarian Minister of Transport Ivaylo Moskovski.

Saturday Moskovski accompanied Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov and EU Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn on an inspection of the project for the so-called Danube Bridge 2.

“82% of the bridge itself is completed at the present moment, 90% of funds have been used, 92% of outlying infrastructure has also been completed,” summarized the Bulgarian Transportation Minister.

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