Simpsonville is a city of builders. Family-run shops on Main Street. Restaurants opened by founders who remember their first health inspection. Service companies with logos painted on the side of pickup trucks parked along Fairview Road.
This year, ten of those businesses will be named candidates for the 2026 Local Visionary Award.
The Local Visionary Award is a new editorial program from ThriveUp, the cinematic media company behind SimpsonvilleWeekly, GreenvilleWeekly, and UpstateWeekly. The award honors independent founders across the Upstate whose work has shaped the communities they serve. The candidate list will be announced at the end of May 2026.
Selection is editorial. ThriveUp identifies candidates through original research, conversations with the community, and editorial judgment. The list of ten finalists is determined entirely by the editorial team based on the depth of the founder story and the role the business plays locally.
Once candidates are named, ThriveUp will produce ten cinematic documentary episodes, one for each business. Each film will run between eight and twelve minutes. Each one will tell the founder’s story from the beginning. The films will publish weekly across the ThriveUp network throughout the summer and fall.
At the end of the cycle, two winners will be named.
The People’s Choice winner will be selected by public vote. Audiences across the Upstate will watch the ten films and choose the founder whose story resonated most. The Editor’s Choice winner will be selected by the ThriveUp editorial panel, independent of vote count, based on the criteria that define the award itself.
Both winners will be added to the permanent national archive at LocalVisionary.com.
For Simpsonville, the timing is meaningful. The city is in the middle of a fifteen million dollar downtown revitalization. New businesses are arriving on Main Street. Long-running staples are watching the streetscape change around them. The award is a chance to put faces and origin stories to the names locals already know.
The candidate list will draw from across the Upstate. Simpsonville businesses are eligible alongside Greenville, Greer, Travelers Rest, Fountain Inn, and the surrounding markets. Selection is based on the depth of the story and the strength of the work.
For business owners who wonder how to be considered, the answer is straightforward. Keep doing what you are doing. ThriveUp editorial is already watching the Upstate. Candidates are drawn from businesses that have earned attention through the quality of their work and the trust they have built with their customers.
For audiences, the program offers cinematic founder storytelling on a regular cadence. The films are the program. The vote is the finale.
The candidate list arrives at the end of May. The films begin shortly after. The first cycle of the Local Visionary Award is underway.
Program details and the full candidate archive at LocalVisionary.com.