American Small Businesses Compete For Best "Turn-Around" Stories
May 7, 2010
"The Comeback 2010" Celebrates Hometown Success in Online Contest Sponsored by Cortera with Over $10K in Total Prizes BOCA RATON, Fla. and BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cortera®, a community-driven business credit bureau, announced today an online contest to promote and honor small businesses who are helping to lead the American economy out of the recession.
"It's never easy being an entrepreneur, but we think the time has come to give the tens of millions of Americans who work in small businesses a collective pat on the back"
"The Comeback 2010," a celebration of America's Small Businesses, will run through June 15th. Total prizes worth over $10,000 will be distributed, with a Grand Prize for the best small business story receiving $3,500 and a year-long Cortera Power membership, valued at $3,000. The contest is being hosted at http://www.thecomeback2010.com.
The contest is open to anyone who works in or owns a small business, or anyone else -- from big companies to individual customers - who want to nominate and give kudos to a small business that's making a big difference. A panel of leading small business experts will serve as judges.
"It's never easy being an entrepreneur, but we think the time has come to give the tens of millions of Americans who work in small businesses a collective pat on the back," said Jim Swift, President and CEO of Cortera. "While economic times are currently tough, small businesses are starting to bounce back, including the estimated 700,000 businesses that start up operations every year."
Contest Applications and Categories
Contest submissions are all online and can be either delivered via Web video downloads (under 2min or 20mb) or a text submission of 250 words or fewer. Designed to provide both inspiration and helpful advice to small business owners, the contest is divided into four categories:
- "The Comeback": Share a courageous story of when the hardships were mounting, your back was to the wall, and you were able to turn your business around.
- "Cough It Up": Tell us about how you finally managed to get paid what you were owed and recovered the money to grow your business.
- "Hanging Out the Shingle": Let us know about how you persevered to accomplish your dream and start a small business, or tell us something special about a company that's recently launched in your area.
- "Hometown Success": Share the story of how your company, or a small business that you support, is making a real difference in your local community this year.
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The first round of submissions can be viewed
http://thecomeback2010.com/videos.aspx
In addition to the grand prize of $3,500 and the Cortera membership, other prizes include a $1,000 prize for Best Video, and $500 and a year-long Cortera Expert Membership valued at $600 for the winners of each of the 4 categories.
All applicants will receive free membership in Cortera's online community (Cortera Credit Exchange) just by entering. If you choose not to submit your own business, and instead nominate a favorite small business in your area, we'll recognize both the nominator and nominee with the nominator being eligible for prize money.
Judges to Select Semi-Finalists with Final Winners Announced June 30th
Semi-finalists will be selected on Tuesday, June 15th with winners being announced on Wednesday, June 30th. Each category will have 3 semi-finalists, with each of the four winners in their respective categories, the best video winner, and the grand prize winner receiving prizes.
Cortera has assembled nationally respected judges who are leading experts in small business, including:
- Alyssa Bennett: Alyssa Rallo Bennett is the artistic director of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Drama Stonestreet Studios, which produces film and television in downtown NYC. Alyssa's award winning film The Pack starring Lucie Arnaz was just released on DVD and Netflix. She will judge video entries for the 2010 Comeback Contest.
- Gerri Detweiler: Business credit expert who has been on a 22-year mission to help individuals and entrepreneurs find reliable answers to their credit questions. She has coauthored five books, including "Business Credit Success: Get on the Financing Fast Track." Gerri also serves as personal finance advisor to Credit.com.
- Elizabeth Ingrassia: Serves as the Director of both the Fordham Twaalfhoven Center for Entrepreneurship and the Fordham Institute for Family & Private Enterprise (fordhamTEC.org and fifpe.org). Ms. Ingrassia also manages Harvard Management Group, Inc., a boutique consulting firm specializing in startup issues and fundraising.
- Gene Marks: Author of "In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash -Simple Lessons From Smart Business Owners" and four other small business management books. Gene also writes bi-weekly online columns for Forbes,Business Week and American City Business Journals on small business management topics. He is the owner of a 10-person consulting firm based outside of Philadelphia and regularly speaks to business groups nationwide on profit building topics. Gene can be found at www.quickerbetterwiser.com
Denise O'Berry: Author of "Small Business Cash Flow: Strategies for Making Your Business a Financial Success." She provides small business tools, tips and advice to small business owners around the world at http://www.deniseoberry.com. Find Denise on twitter at @deniseoberry
"Small businesses are the tip of the spear in economic recovery, a true embodiment of the indomitable spirit of American enterprise. Given what we've been through in the past few years, there's no better time to have small business owners, employees and their customers to share their success and inspire others to follow in their footsteps," said Gerri Detweiler.
About Cortera
Cortera is the online source for commercial credit information and financial intelligence on over 20 million businesses of every size. In 2009, Cortera created the first online community enabling everyone -- from both small businesses to large organizations -- to monitor, rate and exchange information on the payment performance of virtually any business in real time. Cortera is unleashing the power of the Internet to transform the world of business credit reporting. Free credit reports on millions of businesses are now available at www.cortera.com. Check Cortera First™.
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