What’s happening: It’s been a whirlwind six months of awards and recognition for the Sterling Heights small business community, where more than a dozen such businesses have received one award after another on stages both local and national. And as the second half of 2025 nears, the City of Sterling Heights and Connect Macomb have opened the nomination process for their own business awards ceremony. Nominations for the 10th annual Sterling Edge Awards are currently being accepted online until a Friday, July 18, deadline.

[Related: Read “Sterling Heights businesses collect bevy of awards in contests both local and national” on Metromode.]

What it is: The Sterling Edge Awards annually recognizes those local businesses that are making their presence felt in and by the community itself. The Local Business of the Year Award is reserved for the most exemplary of Sterling Heights businesses. And the Dream Big Business of the Year Award goes to that entrepreneur whose small business dreams found a home in Sterling Heights.

When and where: The 10th annual Sterling Edge Awards will be hosted inside Lakeside Mall, the now-closed shopping center that will be razed for a transformational mixed-use development planned at the site. The event likely serves as the public’s final chance to visit Lakeside before the wrecking ball swings. The awards are presented at the State of the City breakfast on Friday, Sept. 12, at Lakeside Mall.

How to nominate your favorites: Nomination forms for the 2025 Sterling Edge Awards are available online, and due by Friday, July 18. The brief form requests visitors to provide basic information about the nominated business, and a few prompts regarding why said business deserves to win either the Business of the Year or Dream Big Business of the Year awards.

Click HERE to nominate your favorite businesses today.

Last year’s winners: In 2024, it was Duo Care Cleaning and Restoration that won the Local Business of the Year Award and IMAGIO Glass Design that won Dream Big Company of the Year.