EY Entrepreneur Of The Year US Award: 2026 Nominations Closed; No 2027 Call Announced

Status update — 2026 cycle closed. There is nothing open to apply to in this cycle. EY’s official US program hub says that nominations are closed for the 2026 program; its application overview gives the same status and directs readers to a regional manager. The 2026 regional finalists and winners are now presented on the hub across 17 US programs. Regional winners advance to the national competition in November, and one US entrepreneur will represent the country at World Entrepreneur Of The Year in 2027. EY has not published a 2027 nomination opening or deadline. This page is therefore a historical reference, not an invitation to submit a late nomination.

The completed 2026 cycle had a real deadline: midnight Pacific time on Friday, February 27, 2026. EY’s official application-guidelines PDF gives that deadline, and the current US hub confirms that the cycle is closed. The official program hub is the right URL to monitor: https://www.ey.com/en_us/entrepreneur-of-the-year-us. Its eligibility rules, judging criteria, regional program finder and FAQ remain available, while the application-overview page records the closed status. Do not treat the old application platform or the archived deadline as a live route.

What EY has published about timing is a recurring shape rather than a date. Its FAQ says: “Our call-for-nominations window is December to March.” That is the pattern to plan against — roughly a December opening, roughly a March close, regional winners announced through June, and the national competition in November. Treat December as the month to start checking, not as a confirmed opening date.

At a Glance

*EY notes revenue exceptions for companies in the Life Sciences sector and emerging companies less than five years old.

What This Award Is — and What It Is Not

This is an awards and recognition program, not a funding application. EY’s US page lists relationships, exposure, local recognition, peer learning and access to EY subject-matter resources as participation benefits. It explicitly says there is no cost to submit a nomination. EY does not state a cash prize or stipend on the current US program page, so applicants should treat the value as recognition, network access and participation benefits rather than promised funding.

EY lists the benefits of participation as five things: relationships with entrepreneurs running successful businesses across different industries; exposure to potential customers, suppliers and investors; recognition of your company’s success in the local business community; access to peer-to-peer learning and networking experiences; and access to EY subject-matter resources on long-term value creation. That is a fair description. The award’s weight comes from its age and reach — running since 1986, more than 11,000 US entrepreneurs honoured, and programs in nearly 60 countries.

The ladder is worth understanding because it changes the calculus of applying. You enter a regional program. Regional judging panels name finalists and winners. Regional winners advance to the national competition. The US national winner goes on to represent the country at World Entrepreneur Of The Year the following year. The most recent example makes the scale concrete: the co-founders of Astera Labs, Jitendra Mohan, Sanjay Gajendra and Casey Morrison, were 2025 US national winners and then took the world title in Monaco on 29 May 2026, selected from nearly 5,000 program participants that included 58 winners across 46 countries and regions. EY notes they were only the fourth US winner in the world award’s 26-year history. So the regional rung is realistic; the world rung is a long shot, and you should apply for the first without banking on the last.

Who Actually Qualifies

EY splits eligibility into the person and the business.

The entrepreneur. You must be the CEO or president of a private or public company and be primarily responsible for the company’s recent performance. You can be the original founder, a multigenerational family business leader, or a transformational CEO of a company or subsidiary who did not found it — EY names all three routes. You must have held the role for at least two years by the application deadline. Co-founders are eligible if they genuinely share leadership responsibilities. Previous finalists and applicants who did not win may reapply. Former winners may reapply only if they have founded or moved to a new company.

The company. For-profit only. At least two years in business. Minimum revenue of $10 million, with stated exceptions for Life Sciences companies and emerging companies less than five years old. EY adds that companies are most competitive when they demonstrate long-term value alongside a strong growth rate and credible growth plans.

Two frequent misreadings are worth clearing up. You do not need any relationship with EY — the FAQ says outright that you need not be a client or have any service relationship with the organisation. And you do not need to nominate yourself through a back channel: anyone associated with a successful entrepreneur can nominate, including spouses, employees, bankers, attorneys and PR managers, and EY explicitly encourages self-nominations on the reasonable grounds that nobody knows the shape of a founder’s success better than the founder.

If you are a founder sitting in a COO or CTO seat, you are outside the criteria as written. If your revenue is under $10 million and you are not in Life Sciences or under five years old, the honest answer is to wait a cycle rather than argue the exception.

What the Nomination Form Asks For

EY publishes the full required-information list on its application overview page, which means you can understand the completed cycle even though nothing is open. The 2026 application-guidelines PDF describes a two-stage route. First, the nominator created an account on the hosted application platform, started the “Initial nomination” entry, completed the Welcome tab and entered the nominee and nominator details. EY then reviewed the nomination; if it was accepted, the nominee received an email invitation to complete the full application. The nominee checked eligibility, worked through the form tabs, saved each section, agreed to the terms and conditions, and submitted the entry. Only the nominee could submit the completed application. The 2026 submission deadline was midnight Pacific time on Friday, February 27, 2026, after which the application could not be edited. Those steps describe the closed cycle; the current hub says to contact the regional manager rather than implying that the platform is open.

There are four information blocks in the published overview.

Nominee information. Name, job title, years in the current role, years with the company, email, work phone, LinkedIn profile if one exists, highest level of education completed with the institution name, whether you are the founder, whether you are actively involved in executive management, whether you are a military veteran, and whether you have participated in Entrepreneur Of The Year before and at what status. Assistant and co-nominee contact details if applicable. Plus a professional colour headshot: head and shoulders, minimum 300 dpi, 80 x 120 pixels, in .jpg, .jpeg, .png or .eps, under 5MB.

Company information. Name, headquarters address, phone, company URL, industry, year founded, and a Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S® number if you have one. Two descriptions with hard limits: a brief summary of major products, services and markets capped at 250 characters (roughly 30 words), and a fuller version capped at 1,250 characters (roughly 150 words). Then three yes/no questions that route your entry: is the business a social enterprise, is it owned or controlled by another company, and is it a family-owned business led by at least the second generation.

Financial data. This section is confidential — EY says it goes to the EY team, the sponsors (who see only non-financial information), and the independent national and regional judging panels — and it must be completed in full. Three years of data, each year covering fiscal year-end, total employees, annual revenue, profit before taxes, EBITDA, total assets and total equity. Then: public or private; if public, the year you listed and the ticker; if private, the number of investors and the significant ones by name; what sources of investment you have used to date; whether you have merged with anyone in the last three years and, if so, what share of revenue growth came from that merger. There is a free-text field for unusual trends or circumstances affecting your results — use it. Judges reading three years of numbers cold will otherwise draw their own conclusions about a flat year or a margin dip.

Narratives. Five of them, each capped at 2,000 characters, or roughly 250 words. The first covers the nominee and the business: company history, where the original idea or strategic pivot came from, the personal and financial risk involved in launching it (or, for non-founders, in taking the entrepreneurial role on), generational history and succession plans for family businesses, and significant industry obstacles overcome. The other four map directly onto EY’s scoring criteria.

How the Judging Criteria Read

EY’s independent judging panels evaluate on entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, impact and financial performance. The published prompts under each are more specific than the labels suggest, and they tell you what to write.

• Entrepreneurial spirit — “How bold and resilient is the entrepreneur’s mindset and journey?” Seeing opportunities others miss; taking real personal and business risks and being open about what they cost; resilience and determination through significant setbacks; building a culture that acts on that mindset rather than just admiring it.
• Purpose — “What values drive the entrepreneur and their vision for the future?” A clear reason the business exists, who it serves, and what difference it aims to make; innovation aimed at long-term value for people, planet and business; keeping faith with mission and values under pressure; inclusive leadership that ties strategy to values.
• Impact — “What real-world positive difference is the entrepreneur making?” Serving customers in ways that measurably improve lives, communities or industries; building inclusive teams and widening access to opportunity; introducing solutions with lasting benefit; environmental protection or restoration.
• Growth — “How is the entrepreneur scaling their business/preparing for future growth?” Consistent growth in financial performance, operational viability and return on equity, scaled responsibly; adaptable teams and an expanding customer base; using new approaches and technology to move the industry forward; an agile business built to last.

One structural detail matters more than any writing tip: at the regional level, nominees are judged on their individual merits, stories and achievements. They are not scored within categories or only against companies in their own industry. Every nominee goes across the same scorecard. A niche manufacturer is read next to a software company. That rewards clarity of story over industry-relative performance — do not assume the panel knows why a 12% margin is excellent in your sector, because the person reading you may spend their day in a completely different one.

Using the Closed Window

The nomination form is closed, which is the best time to build the answer. Here is what a productive stretch between now and a December opening looks like.

Now through autumn — assemble the financial spine. Get three clean fiscal years of revenue, profit before taxes, EBITDA, total assets, total equity and headcount into one reconciled sheet. Have your CFO or accountant sign off on it. Write a one-paragraph explanation for every anomaly: the acquisition, the pandemic year, the deliberate margin sacrifice to win a category. That paragraph is what the form’s free-text field is for.

Autumn — draft the narratives long, then cut. Write each of the five at full length first, then compress to 2,000 characters. Compressing a good draft produces better copy than padding a thin one. Open each narrative with a number and follow it with the decision that produced it. “We grew 60%” is a claim; “we grew 60% after moving from per-seat to usage pricing in Q2, which cut our sales cycle from 90 days to 34” is evidence.

Autumn — line up your nominator and your evidence. Because anyone can nominate, a customer, investor or board member submitting on your behalf costs you nothing and reads differently to the panel. Collect the corroboration that supports your claims: customer outcomes, independent research, jobs created, wages, environmental figures. Quantify anything you plan to describe as impact.

December onward — watch for the opening. The single most useful administrative step available to you today: EY’s FAQ directs anyone wanting advance notice to contact Wendy Fox, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Americas Program Manager, and ask to be added to the distribution list. Do that now rather than refreshing the site. Then use the “Find your program” tool on the program page to identify your regional program — coverage is organised by state, with California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas split across more than one program — and introduce yourself to that regional team before the window opens.

The time cost, so you can plan honestly. EY estimates that nominees who advance to the finalist round spend 8 to 12 hours across the cycle: completing the nomination, an interview with EY leaders and select sponsors, an interview with the independent judging panel, video filming, the awards celebration, and any related events. That is a modest ask for a serious award, but the interviews and filming are scheduled on the program’s calendar, not yours.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still apply for 2026? No. Nominations closed and the 2026 regional winners have already been announced. The next step in the current cycle is the national competition in November, which is drawn from existing regional winners.

When will nominations reopen? EY has not published dates. Its stated call-for-nominations window runs December to March, so December is when to start checking. Ask to be added to the Americas program distribution list to be told directly.

Does it cost anything? No. EY states there is no cost to submit a nomination.

Do I have to be an EY client? No. EY says you do not need to be a client or have any service relationship with the organisation.

My revenue is under $10 million. Am I out? Not necessarily. EY names two exceptions: companies in the Life Sciences sector, and emerging companies less than five years old. Outside those, the $10 million minimum stands as written.

Can I reapply after not winning? Yes. Previous eligible finalists and applicants who did not win may reapply. Past winners may reapply only if they have founded or transitioned to a new company. Past eligible regional winners can also apply again for the national competition — contact your regional program team about that process.

Is my financial information kept private? Yes. EY says the nomination form is used by the EY team administering the award, the sponsors (who review non-financial information only), and the independent national and regional judging panels.

How many awards are given? It varies each year and each program. Each regional judging panel selects recipients based on the quality of the nominations it receives, and the national panel then names national finalists and winners from the regional pool.

How to Apply / Get Started

Nothing is open to submit today. Two things to do instead:

1. Bookmark the official program page and check it from December: https://www.ey.com/en_us/entrepreneur-of-the-year-us
2. Review the full required-information list and build your packet against it: https://www.ey.com/en_us/entrepreneur-of-the-year-us/eoy-us-application-overview

Then find your regional program through the state-by-state finder on the program page and contact that team. Ask the Americas Program Manager to add you to the distribution list. When the window opens, the difference between a rushed nomination and a strong one will be the three months of financial reconciliation and narrative drafting you did before anyone announced a date.