Sponsored by the Dan and Gloria Bohan Foundation
The Entrepreneur of the Year Award was established in 2015 by the Dan and Gloria Bohan Foundation to promote the entrepreneurial spirit in the travel and hospitality industry through recognition of innovators who have either established their own businesses or who have been responsible for significant entrepreneurial initiatives within an existing organization. Each year, the Foundation, in conjunction with ASTA staff and membership, selects one person or organization that best exemplifies this spirit of entrepreneurship to receive the Award and a $10,000 cash prize.
All travel advisors, agency managers, suppliers, and others in the travel and hospitality industry are eligible to receive the Award.
Nominees for the Award will be evaluated based on consideration of eight benchmarks demonstrating various aspects of the successful candidate’s innovative and entrepreneurial approach to the business and its future. The benchmarks, in no particular order, are as follows:
Entries will be accepted online beginning on February 3, 2025, and ending on March 14, 2025.
Persons or organizations that wish to be considered for the Award must submit all of the following:
A Selection Committee comprised of seasoned travel industry professionals jointly chosen by ASTA and the Foundation will review each complete submission that is received on or before the entry deadline stated below. Applying the stated evaluation criteria, each committee member will then rank the submissions in order from highest to lowest. Entrants receiving one of the five highest aggregate scores will be named as semi-finalists. In connection with the next stage of the competition, the videos and narrative statements of the five semi-finalists will be posted on a members-only ASTA webpage for viewing by ASTA members.
Each of the five semi-finalists will be included in a poll posted on a members-only ASTA webpage. After reviewing each nominee’s video and narrative statement, members will have an opportunity to cast their vote for the candidate that they believe best exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship in travel. The poll will open at 9:00 a.m. EST on March 24 and close at 5:00 p.m. EST on March 28.
The candidates receiving the highest, second highest, and third highest number of votes from among the voting ASTA members will be designated as finalists and will be invited to attend the award session at TAC where the winner of the $10,000 prize will be announced.
Prior to TAC, the Selection Committee will reconvene to review the submissions of the three finalists to consider the strengths, weaknesses, and other aspects of each innovation or concept, and determine which one, on balance, is most worthy of being judged the year’s best representation of entrepreneurship in the industry. At the TAC award session, each finalist will have his or her five-minute video submission shown in its entirety to the audience, after which the winner will be announced and welcomed onstage to accept the award from ASTA and Foundation representatives.
Within twelve months of the award presentation at TAC, each of the three finalists, including the winner, will be expected to update ASTA and/or the Foundation concerning the progress of their business venture and how the exposure gained by participating in the Entrepreneur of the Year competition has positively impacted it. Feedback can be shared through testimonials, videos, or any performance metrics the finalist wishes to share.
Applications must be received by ASTA no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on March 14, 2025. Incomplete applications, or applications received after the stated deadline, will not receive consideration.
Click the button below to access the online nomination submission form.
Nomination Submission Form