TERMS

The Best of America Small Business Awards: Terms and Conditions

The present General Terms and Conditions regulate the relations between the Best of America Small Business Awards (BASA) Organizer and the Participants.

Please review carefully the latest version of the General Terms and Conditions prior to registering. They represent an agreement between you and the Best of America Small Business Awards (BASA) Organizer.

I. Basic Definitions and Terms of the Agreement

Upon the interpretation and application of the present General Terms and Conditions the used herein basic definitions and terms shall have the following meaning:

Competition: The Best of America Small Business Awards (BASA) – online awards competition

Organizer: Best of America Small Business Awards

Participant: any physical or judicial body that has filled out a registration form for participation and paid the fees, available on the Website and external platform Zealous.

Website: The Competition website allowing the Participants to receive official information about the Competition and to register for it online. The third party Award platform Zealous where the application forms must be uploaded.

Content/Materials: all Content created, uploaded, added, submitted, or posted to the Website and platform Zealous or the online voting system, including, but not limited to text, video and audio materials, written posts and comments, photographs, images, graphics, URLs, etc. which are made accessible on or through the Website, platform Zealous, or the online voting system.

Partner companies – those sponsors and organizations who support and also follow the principles of the Competition – transparent and honest judging process and credibility.

II. Online Registration

In order to register for the Competition, the Participants must pay the fees and complete the online registration form, available at the Competition Website and on the platform Zealous.

The Organizer reserves the right to not accept and/ or to disqualify Participants who have entered wrong, false or insufficient data. The competition only accepts US-based companies, so companies not located in the USA will be disqualified. Participants who enter clearly and systematically false data shall be deleted from the system. In such cases, the agreement is automatically terminated.

III. Participant’s Registration Fee and Payment

The registration fee is indicated on the Website, and the amount due is based on the prices as quoted on the Website at the moment of registration. Companies must pay their fees before completing the application on Zealous. Application with pending payment will not be accepted and registered until the payment is completed.

The cost for any consequent trophy deliveries, as well as additional trophy orders, is covered by the recipient.

After successfully entering the data, the registered Entrant will receive confirmation email with details for the payment information.

The registration shall be considered valid (completed) only after confirmation of the payment which shall be made within the terms stated in the confirmation for registration.

IV. Data Privacy and Processing

The Organizer collects personal data about Participants via the Competition’s registration form for the purpose of registering you for the Competition or the online judging system.

By entering the Competition, you agree to have your personal data collected and processed by the Organizer, as well as The Organizer’s sub-processors – cloud computing company Shopify for data storage and order processing, Stripe and Airwallex as merchants. and MailJet for email deliverability., and suppliers & partners - the artist Ithaca for the trophies, and more. You consent to provide accurate and truthful information.

The Organizer, its partners, suppliers, and its sub-processors, strictly applies the respective measures for processing and protection of personal data in accordance with the Global Data Protection Regulation, no personal information of a Participant registered for the Competition shall be publicly disclosed, shared, or sold to a Third Party. The Organizer reserves the right to use some of that personal data to contact the Participant with promotional offers and important information or news about the Competition. Personal data may be disclosed if required by Law Enforcement Authorities.

Data is to be kept for 10 years for the purpose of keeping updated data about Best of America Small Business Awards participants, as well as for the Best of America Small Business Index. The Organizer reserves the right to contact participating organizers and agencies about updates to the Best of America Small Business Index, as well as to request up-to-date company logos and other relevant information for the index.

The Organizer reserves the right to use part of the data entered in the registration form as a part of the statistics used and announced for the respective Competition.

The organizer also uses the information collected from you to help resolve issues you may have relating to the Website or the Competition. We may use your personal information to communicate with you, for record keeping purposes, and in aggregate (anonymously) for market research purposes, to track activity on our site, to publish trends and/or to improve usefulness and content.

We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to other parties.

If you enter the Competition or request a newsletter or any other product or service from the Website, we may provide you with news and special offers about the Competition. If at any time you choose not to receive notifications you may do so by sending your request to awards@basawards.com or simply unsubscribe from the link at the bottom of the email.

The personal data provided by the Participants can be used for improving the development of the activities of Best of America Small Business .

V. Copyright

Any copyright and other rights in relation to the Materials provided for the purposes of the Competition are property of the Organizer or of the copyright holders. The Participants are entitled to use such Materials for personal use only. The reproduction and distribution of such Materials is permitted only upon explicit consent on behalf of the Organizer or on behalf of the respective copyrights holders.

The Participant is responsible for all Content publicly or privately transmitted through The Website or the online voting system. The Organizer does not claim any intellectual property rights over the Content uploaded by the Participant.

The Organizer has the right to remove without warning copyrighted and illegal Content should an issue arise. Please note, the Organizer may be required by law to disclose a Participant’s identity in cases of copyright infringement claims.

The Organizer does not monitor the Content uploaded by the Participant. The Participant agrees to abstain from uploading and distributing fraudulent, misleading, abusive, offensive, sexually explicit, or otherwise harmful or illegal Content. It is the Participant’s responsibility to observe for copyright issues.

You hereby agree that Content uploaded by you is consistent with applicable law and regulations, and you agree to indemnify us for any breach of relevant laws and regulations.

By uploading or linking your Content, you agree: (a) to allow other internet users to view the Content you post publicly; (b) to allow the Organizer to store, and in the case of publicly stored Content, display and review the Content submitted to the Competition.

By submitting Content in relation to the Competition, the Participant grants the Organizer a worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive right to use, modify, transmit, distribute, display, and stream the Content in the context of the Competition, including, without limitation, through Third Party websites, email, APIs and other media channels and formats.

All entrants authorize the organizers and other third-party companies to duplicate their entries in whatever form in order to promote the awards and the results of the competition. Under no circumstances shall the organisers, or their authorised representatives, be held responsible for the payment of royalties or other charges. Each entrant agrees to not hold the organisers, and/or their authorised representatives, liable against any claims concerning the material in this respect.

The entry cannot be amended once the submission deadline is reached. All entries are made available to the public once the Participant completes their entry. Part of the entry will be made available to the public during the Public voting phase. Ratings and jury comments are made available to the public once the winners are announced.

VI. Cancellation & Refunds

Once a nomination fee has been paid, no refunds will be issued. Deferral fees to the next edition are applicable at the cost of $50 per nomination.

Once an entry has been completed and submitted on Zealous, the Participant cannot pull out of the awards competition.

The Organizer reserves the right to postpone or cancel the Competition. The Organizer shall provide instructions for any changes in relation to the Competition.

Every entrant, registered at Best of America Small Business is automatically subscribed for the event newsletter. Entrants can opt-out at any time.

Sponsorship fees may or may not be refundable, depending on the terms negotiated between the Sponsor and the BASA awards and spelled out in the Sponsorship Agreement prepared for Sponsor by the BASA.

Merchandise: Money paid for merchandise such as duplicate awards and awards-presentation certificates are not refundable.

VII. Modifications

In case the Organizer. has to change, adjust or merge categories due to insufficient entries or other circumstances that can violate the genuine judging process, they can do so before the voting process is launched and after notifying the Participants by email. An alternative shall be provided and no refunds will be issued.

VIII. Jury

Any kind of abuse towards or attempts to influence the Competition jury, before, during, or after the Event, shall not be tolerated. In such cases the Organizer reserves the right to disqualify the perpetrator, annule their award, and prohibit them from future participation in the Event.

IX. Limitation of Liability

The Organizer bears no liability for any indirect or consequential losses occurred as a result of the Participant’s participation in the Competition.

In case of cancellation of the Participant’s registration or termination of the agreement, the Organizer shall bear no liability for any damages caused to or benefits forgone on behalf of the Participant or any third parties.

The Organizer is not liable to refund the Participant in force majeure circumstances, such as earthquake, natural calamities, war, threat of a terrorist act, and other circumstances beyond the control of the Organizer.

X. Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy (“Policy”) applies to the www.basawards.com website (“Website”).

We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of our online visitors. This Policy provides our website’s visitors with an overview of our online information collection, disclosure and security practices, and the measures we have taken to provide a safe and compliant online environment. By accessing the Website and its content, you consent to the data practices described in this Policy. Please read this entire Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your personal information and how we treat it before you start to use this Website. If you do not agree with the data practices in this Policy, you must exit this Website.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may modify the terms of this Policy from time-to-time. We will post any changes we make to this Policy on this page. If we make material changes to this Policy, we will notify you through a notice on the Website’s home page. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed notice effective for information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. The date this Policy was last modified is identified at the top of the page. You should check this page every time you use the Website to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you. All material changes shall apply prospectively only. By continuing to use the Website following the posting of changes to this Privacy Policy, you accept those changes.

INFORMATION COVERED BY THIS POLICY
This Policy explains our policies and practices with respect to certain personally identifiable information and other information collected by this Website from its visitors and describes the choices you have as a visitor of this Website concerning our collection, use, and sharing of such information. Except to the extent otherwise expressly provided in this Policy or by written agreement of this Website, this Policy does not cover information collected by this Website through any other means, and only applies to our online practices. This Policy does not apply to information collected by third-party websites, plug-ins, APIs, or applications even if a link to a third-party website, plug-in, API, or application appears on our Website. We are not responsible for the data practices of third parties.

COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION
We consider the following, among other non-publicly available information that may identify an individual, to be personally identifiable information: first and last name, social security number, credit card number, email address, street address, phone number, geolocation information sufficient to identify street name and name of a city or town, “persistent identifiers” that can be used to recognize a user over time and across different websites or online services, including a visitor number held in a cookie, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a processor or device serial number or unique device identifier, and any other substantially similar identifier that permits direct contact with a person online, and any other personal user identification, password or other personally identifiable information that may be needed to obtain access to or use the Website. We (and/or our agents, affiliates or service providers) may collect online and use personally identifiable information from our visitors: (1) in connection with awards, competitions, contests, content submissions, surveys, forums, and educational, literary or artistic materials, opportunities or activities; (2) our requests for suggestions and visitors’ requests for materials or information; (3) to customize the content on our Site for our visitors’ current and future needs; and (4) to process and record donations to www.basawards.com. Visitors are informed of the information we collect through our questionnaires and surveys and how the information will be used before they provide this information.

You understand and acknowledge that: the Website is not intended for use by children under 13 years of age; in order to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, we do not knowingly or intentionally collect any personal information about children under 13 years of age; and if we obtain actual knowledge that we have collected personal information about a child under 13 years of age without verification of parental consent, that information will be immediately deleted from our database.

Unless requested otherwise, this Website shall retain the personally identifiable information of accounts for 5 years in compliance with this Website’s standard data retention practices. Data from accounts that are inactive for more than 5 years will be deleted.
Upon request, the Website will provide visitors with the ability to correct or update their contact information. Registered visitors will be responsible for keeping their contact information current and accurate and may do so by checking and, if necessary, modifying their online profile.

SHARING OF INFORMATION
Disclosure of Information to Third Parties.
By entering personally identifiable information on the Website, you consent to our use of your personally identifiable information for purposes related to the Website, its content, and any other the services offered and provided on, or in connection with the Website and competition only. Without limiting the foregoing, by giving us personally identifiable information you are giving us, as well as our third-party service providers, permission to only contact you and/or send information about the Website and competition. IF YOU ARE AN INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS PROVIDED US WITH YOUR PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION ONLINE AND YOU DO NOT WANT US TO SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES, OR IF THERE IS ANY MEDIA NOTIFICATION, PUBLICATION, OR MATERIAL THAT YOU NO LONGER WISH TO RECEIVE FROM US, YOU CAN OPT OUT BY FOLLOWING THE OPT-OUT PROCEDURES SET FORTH BELOW.

OPTING OUT
You may choose not to have us share your personally identifiable information with third parties for the above-described purposes by opting out. You may also opt out if you do not want to receive email from us in the future.
In order to opt out for these purposes, use one of the methods listed below:
• Email us at: awards@basawards.com
• Consistent with federal CAN-SPAM laws, if you do not wish to receive commercial emails, you may unsubscribe following the instructions on any email. We may still send you administrative or other necessary, noncommercial notices.

If you are writing to request that you no longer receive a particular media notification, publication, or material from us, please include the name of the specific item you no longer wish to receive. In addition, in every email that we send, we provide a link that you can click on to enable you to opt out of receiving future emails from the sender.

OTHER TRANSFERS AND DISCLOSURES
In addition to the above disclosures, personally identifiable information possessed or used by this Website may be disclosed or transferred: (a) to any entity that is a successor to, or acquires all or substantially all of, www.basawards.com or its assets or operations; (b) as required by law, for example, to comply with a court order or subpoena or to assist in criminal investigations; (c) when we deem it advisable to protect the rights, property, safety, or security of our Website, visitors, or others; and (d) to enforce this Website’s Terms and Conditions.

NON-PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION AND THE USE OF COOKIES
Cookies and Collection of Non-Personally Identifiable Data
We collect non-personally identifiable information through the use of a software technology called “cookies”, through submissions our visitors volunteer to us and/or make upon our request. By non-personally identifiable information, we refer to information about our visitors’ browsers (e.g., Google Chrome or Internet Explorer), operating systems (e.g., Windows or Macintosh), Internet service providers and other similar information (such as Website traffic, navigational and statistical user information), which we collect and track anonymously in individual or aggregate form. We may also collect non-personally identifiable information in connection with content submissions, special projects, questionnaires, surveys, etc. For example, such non-personally identifiable information may include: first name only and first initial of last name, state, age, and grade. The non-personally identifiable information that we collect or track is anonymous and we do not identify, match, link or combine it with, or trace it back to, any of our visitors’ personally identifiable information.

Cookie technology helps us to know such information as how many people visit the Website, if these are new or return visitors to the Website, and where the visitors go on our Website. Cookies are small bits of information we send to your computer. Among other things, this non-personally identifiable information allows us to know which areas are favorites, which areas need improvement, or what technologies and Internet services are being used by our visitors so that we may continually improve our visitors’ online experiences. You can disable cookies on your computer by indicating your desire to do so in the preferences or option menu of your browser. NOTE: If you configure your computer to block or erase cookies you may not be able to use all or certain parts or features of our Website.

The Website may also use a technology called “tracking pixels”. These may also be referred to as “Action Tags”, “Clear GIFs” or “Web Beacons”. This technology allows us to understand which pages you visit on the Website. These tracking pixels allow us to understand the effectiveness of our outreach and are used to help us optimize and tailor the Website for you and other future visitors.

We may also contract with third party service providers to operate web servers for our Website, to set cookies or similar data collection technologies on the Site, and/or to collect, store, analyze and/or report to us the information gathered by these cookies or other data collection technologies. We contractually prohibit companies that provide these services from using cookies or other data collection technologies for any purpose other than the performance of these services to www.basawards.com, and from sharing the information collected with anyone other than us or our other service providers.

USE OF IP ADDRESSES
We collect IP addresses to obtain information on the use of our Website. An IP address is a number assigned to your computer by a Web server when you’re on the Web. When you are on our site, we have a back-end server that logs your computer’s IP address. We only use the information we find out from tracking IP addresses anonymously, such as in the aggregate, for example, to determine how many visitors entered a specific area of our site, and not to track a specific IP address to identify an individual visitor. However, we may use such information to identify a visitor if we feel that there are or may be safety and/or security issues, or to comply with legal requirements.

DO NOT TRACK
Online tracking technology allows website operators to collect personally identifiable information about you as you move through websites and other online service providers. When enabled from most browser privacy settings, a “do not track” (“DNT”) signal or request notifies a website operator that you do not wish to be tracked online. As currently constituted, we only track your movement within the Website.

However, some third-party sites keep track of your browsing activities when they serve you content, which enables them to tailor what they present to you. Third parties cannot collect any other personally identifiable information from the Website unless you provide it to them directly.
We do not honor DNT requests, and we do not treat visitors who make DNT requests differently from visitors who do not make DNT requests. We also do not differentiate between visitors who make DNT requests and visitors who do not make such requests, when it comes to collecting or using personally identifiable information.

SECURITY
It is our priority to ensure our visitors’ information is secure. We maintain reasonable and appropriate measures to safeguard the information that you provide to us, and to comply with the data security requirements of applicable law. These measures include our use of secure server software over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) line to protect your information. It encrypts all of your personal information so that this information cannot be read as it travels to our ordering system, and that once it is received, it is stored in a location not accessible via the Internet.
Disclaimer: While we strive to maintain the security of the data provided by the visitors to our Site, no transmission or storage of electronic data is ever completely secure. This Website cannot and does not warrant or guarantee the security of such information, or that your information will never be disclosed in a manner inconsistent with this Policy.

‍‍XI. Withdrawing from the competition

You may withdraw one or more entries from the competition and receive a refund of entries fees paid for those entries through January 1, 2024. After that date entries may still be withdrawn, but no refunds will be issued. If for extraordinary circumstances after January 1 we must submit your entries for judging before entry fees are paid, your entries will be non revokable and entry fees will be payable.

XII. Final Decision

In the event of a dispute as to the category in which an entry(s) will be judged, the decision of the Best of America Small Business Awards staff will prevail. Judges may recommend that an entry be switched to a different category, and at their discretion Best of America Small Business Awards staff may change an entry’s category.

Any offline materials submitted as part of your entries will not be returned.

XIII. Payment of Shipping Fees

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Award winners will online receive the certificate at their mail address, free of charge.

If you want to order the Atlanta Trophy will be offered the opportunity to pay a fee for the trophy to receive their physical awards. Those who do not opt-in will still be winners in good standing, but will not be shipped their awards.

Shipping fees payable will be as follows:

Shipments within the U.S.A.

The Atlanta Trophy an hand-made design work of hard uniquely created in Italy by internationally acclaimed artist Ithaca. The Trophy will be sent on our behalf directly from the artists studios either in Italy or Germany to you.

•  $290 per Gold Atlanta Award trophy. Plus small contribution for shipping fees.
•  $290 per Silver Atlanta Award trophy. Plus small contribution for shipping fees.
•  $290 per Bronze Atlanta Award trophy. Plus small contribution for shipping fees.

We reserve the rights to change the Trophy fees at any time and without notice.

Shipments to All Other Nations

If for any reason you want the Trophy to be sent to any part of the world, we will contact you and let about any price difference.

Trophies will need be shipped by FedEx International Economy, DHL Express, or UPS and the extra fees will include all customs fees and taxes.

XIV. Publication of BASA-winning Entries 

The full-text of Gold BASA Award-winning entries will be published on The Best of America web site approximately three months after the final results are announced.  Best of America Gold Award winners will be given the opportunity to redact any confidential or non-public information from their entries before publication.  If you should have one or more Gold BASA Award-winning entries in the 2023 Best of America Small Awards, you agree to respond promptly to our request for edits or redactions to those entries before publication.

XV. Changes to Our Policy

The Organizer reserves the right to make changes to the present General Terms and Conditions at any time, informing in advance information about such changes via email and on the Website.

Relations between the Organizer and the holder of the registration shall be settled and interpreted exclusively in accordance with the legislation of the Organizer country. The present General Terms and Conditions are accepted by decision on 31.12.2019 of the Management Board of the organizer, in its capacity as the organizer of the Event.

XVI. Failure to Comply

Failure to comply with these Terms & Conditions will render your entries ineligible. Entry fees will not be refunded.

BASA Awards

Last revision: 1 January 2023

Contact us at: awards@basawards.com

The Atlanta Trophy

The Atlanta trophy is one of America's most prestigious and envious prizes. The statuette is a hand-made work of art uniquely created in Italy by the internationally acclaimed artist Ithaca. Read more.

We hope you register your company to participate, and we look forward to networking and promoting good work.

 

 About the BASA Awards

The BASA is a short form for Best of America Small Business Awards. The Best of America Small Business Awards is an online competition dedicated to showcasing the best of small businesses for their work and contribution to their community and encouraging more small businesses to get excited about new opportunities.

Strictly for small businesses in America, the award has 6 tracks and 150+ categories for companies to choose from.