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eBay Announces the Winners of Its First Annual SHINE AwardsToday, at eBay's (News - Alert) inaugural seller celebration event in Las Vegas, eBay OPEN, the company announced the winners of its first annual seller recognition program, the SHINE Awards for Small Business. The award program highlights the efforts and success of entrepreneurs across the country and celebrates the contributions of small businesses on eBay to the U.S. economy. "We were thrilled to read the stories of the more than 1,300 eBay businesses that were considered for the SHINE Awards this year," said Hal Lawton, Senior Vice President and Head of eBay North America. "Our winners represent the best of what eBay stands for: innovative, fast-growing, global, diverse small businesses that are grounded in their families and communities and work hard every day. I couldn't be more proud of the sellers we honored last night." The SHINE Award Grand Prize Winner and eBay's 2016 Small Business of the Year is Laurie Wong. Her eBay store, Reflections of Trinity, works to serve the needs of its community through ecommerce and a local marketplace ministry. Over the past five years, she's been able to run and grow a healthy business, increasing sales and her ability to give back to the community every year. In 2015 alone, she distributed over 12,000 boxes of groceries (622,965 lbs. of food!) to those in need in her community. She was awarded a $10,000 cash prize as well as a package of marketing tools and services to grow her eBay business. Winners from each of the five categories were also recognized onstage:
The eBay community had a chance to vote on 15 selected finalists for category winners: three in each of the five categories. Nearly 40,000 votes were cast for the category winners by more than 18,000 voters across the country. The Grand Prize Winner and eBay's Small Business of the Year was selected by a panel of expert judges including eBay representatives, a past winner from eBay's Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year program, eBay's Open for Business podcast host and entrepreneur, John Henry, and the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Maria Contreras-Sweet. The category winners were awarded a $5,000 cash prize, as well as a package of marketing tools and services to help grow their eBay businesses. For information on the SHINE Awards, photos of the finalists and more, please see the SHINE Awards website. About eBay eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is a global commerce leader including the Marketplace, StubHub and Classifieds platforms. Collectively, we connect millions of buyers and sellers around the world, empowering people and creating opportunity through Connected Commerce. Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay is one of the world's largest and most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great value and unique selection. In 2015, eBay enabled $82 billion of gross merchandise volume. For more information about the company and its global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.
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