For gym owners
A win here is public proof your community chose you: a badge for your site, a winner page with your vote count indexed on Google, and a plaque for the wall in time for January walk-ins. All of it is earned on the ballot, and the badge is free the day results go out. Anything for sale comes only after, and only if you want it.
"Congratulations, your gym has been selected." Then the plaque offer, then the discovery that everyone was selected.
This one works differently, and it's built by people who train. Winners are decided by email-verified public vote, the count is published with the results, and no offer is made to anyone before the votes are in. Don't take our word for it: the methodology is public.
The terms
Most awards bury this in the footer. It's the first thing on this page because it's the only thing that matters to you.
If you win
Everything in the first column arrives the day winners are announced, at no cost, whether or not you ever spend a dollar with us.
A digital badge for your site, your Instagram, and your Google listing. Yours to keep. No asterisk, no upsell attached.
A page on this site with your vote count, your category, and a link to your gym. It's indexed by Google. It works for you year round.
You're named in the public results and across our channels, alongside every other winner in your region.
Optional · After you win
A badge lives on a screen. A parent standing in your lobby deciding whether to sign their kid up is not looking at a screen.
A real wall plaque, printed with your category, your year, and the number of verified votes that put you there.
That last part is the whole point. A bought award never prints its vote count, because there isn't one. Yours does.
Optional. Your badge and winner page are free either way.
How gyms actually win
You can't nominate or vote for yourself, and you don't need to. Gyms win when their own community shows up, and we make showing up easy.
A ready-made Instagram post and story ("We've been nominated — vote here"), sized and written. Post it, pin it, done.
Finalist badge for your bio, a story countdown asset, and your category's direct voting link for the team group chat.
A printable poster with your category's QR code. The people who'd vote for you walk past your front desk every night.
Timing
You already know this. New year, new resolution, and the lobby fills up with people who have never trained a day in their life. They walk in, they look around, and they decide in about four seconds whether this place is legitimate.
The wall is doing that work for you, or it isn't. Winners are announced in early November: enough time to have the plaque up before the wave arrives, not after it.
Straight answers
Someone who trains with you nominates you: students, parents, training partners. Nominations run through September, free and open. The only way onto the ballot is your community putting you there.
Every vote is confirmed by email and counted once per person, per category, enforced in the database itself. The full count is published with the results, and the counting rules are public. How the count works →
In one category, maybe. That's why there are six, and they measure different things. The best competition team and the best gym for beginners are rarely the same room, and everyone in town knows it.
It's independent and black belt–run: built by people with decades on the mats, not a media company running an awards funnel. Names, credentials, and the reason it exists are all public. See who's behind it →
Nothing. Every gym in an active region receives a free listing automatically. No application or payment required.
South Florida 2026 · Nominations close September 30
You can't nominate yourself. But you can tell the people who'd want to, and they're on your mats tonight. Send them the nomination link so your gym lands on the October ballot.
Share the nomination page