It was September last year that Neustar and the City of New York Launched the “Best of Boroughs” Contest and it was such a success that they brought it back this year and started a yearly tradition.

.NYC’s Best of Boroughs competition celebrates the city’s diverse and innovative businesses and organizations across the five boroughs that are building their future on .nyc domain names.

This is an exciting opportunity as all of the businesses and organizations will get to showcase their work and one special entrant from each borough will be crowned as the “Best of Borough”. Along with the title the winning entrant will receive special recognition and $5,000.

Last year’s Best of Boroughs winners were a diverse bunch:

• Bronx BoB winner: New Day Church (NewDayChurch.nyc)
  • Inspiration: “The vision of crossing social boundaries inspires New Day Church… We are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender, queer and straight. We confront racism, sexism and homophobia with God’s abundance and compassion. From the forests of the Botanical Gardens to the Hudson River, from the very young to the very old, God has made us beautiful, resilient, creative and loving.”

• Queens BoB winner: DIVAS for Social Justice (Laurelton.nyc)
  • Inspiration: “DIVAS for Social Justice is proud to be a community partner to laurelton.nyc, an online platform developed to encourage civic engagement, online organizing and information sharing…. [DIVAS] also wanted to provide a platform that could share the history of Laurelton and the positive stories of the community. ”

• Manhattan BoB winner: Manhattan Sideways (sideways.nyc)
  • Inspiration: “New York’s side streets are home to a rich tapestry of small businesses, each one is special, but together they are the fabric of our city. Manhattan Sideways is a website devoted entirely to supporting and promoting these small businesses on the side streets – to give them the exposure that they do not always receive.”

• Brooklyn BoB winner: JustFix (JustFix.nyc)
  • Inspiration: “JustFix.nyc is a nonprofit organization that helps tenants fight for their right to a safe and healthy home. Our organization was born from research with tenants and housing advocates across NYC, to pinpoint where technology could play a meaningful role in helping individuals who are facing neglect and harassment in their homes.”

• Staten Island BoB winner: Maker Park Radio (MakerParkRadio.nyc)
  • Local contribution: “MakerParkRadio.nyc is a station that uses arts- and maker-based programming to bring together the community through the love of music and the arts…. We are the soundtrack of Staten Island. [Because] we are in a unique location (between new condo development and low income residents, as well as on the voting line between blue and red), we use this station as a place to use music and art based programs to bring people together.”

This year all 70,000+ registrants of NYC domains are eligible to enter but the clock is ticking – the competition opened on September 4th and the submission deadline is September 19th (really soon!). The good news is that it only takes a few minutes to submit your site and be in with a chance to win. Enter now.

For many NYC businesses using a .nyc domain, the $5,000 award can offer a significant cash infusion to help them grow and there will be extra community engagement and media attention through the awareness that the Best of Boroughs competition brings.

After the submission deadline on Wednesday September 19th, members of the public will be able to vote on the submissions between September 20th to the 25th. The winners will be publicly announced on October 17th.

So what are you waiting for? Enter the Best of Boroughs competition now.