Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Centurion Awards (“Centurion,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, and shares information in connection with centurionawards.com, our forms, the winner portal, and the awards program (together, the “Service”). Centurion Awards is the operator of the Service and the controller of personal information collected through it. By using the Service, you agree to this Policy and to our Terms of Service.

1. Information you give us

• Nominations. When you nominate a business we collect your name and email, the business’s name, location, category, links, and any contact details or notes you choose to add. If you provide information about other people (for example, a business’s email or phone), you are responsible for having the right to share it.
• Eligibility checks and applications. Business details, your role at the business, contact information, and the application itself.
• Accounts. Your email address and a password (stored only in hashed form). If you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email address from your Google account; we never see your Google password.
• Payments. Payments are processed by Stripe on Stripe-hosted pages. We receive confirmation of payment and order details; we never receive or store your full card number. Stripe’s handling of your data is governed by Stripe’s own privacy policy.
• Correspondence and orders. Emails you send us, portal requests (such as framed-award orders), and related records.

2. Information we collect automatically

• Request and security data. Like nearly every website, our infrastructure (Cloudflare) processes your IP address, browser type, and requested pages. We use IP addresses for rate limiting and abuse prevention, and we keep structured server logs for security, debugging, and operations. We also use the approximate location Cloudflare derives from your IP address (typically your state or country) to personalize which winners appear first on the homepage and directory pages. Those logs also record the page that referred you to us and any campaign parameters in the link you followed (so we can tell which of our own posts and emails bring people here). They hold no cookie and no IP address; a keyed hash that changes every day stands in for it, and the rows are deleted after 13 months.
• Functional cookies. First-party cookies that make the site work: a session cookie when you sign in to the winner portal or admin area, a short-lived (10-minute) state cookie during Google sign-in, and, on our own team’s browsers after an admin sign-in, a marker cookie so their visits are left out of our statistics. We also store your light/dark theme preference in your browser’s local storage.
• Analytics. Our public pages use Google Analytics (GA4) to understand how the site is used, so we can improve its performance and the experience for business owners. It sets first-party analytics cookies (such as _ga) and sends usage data (your IP address, device and browser information, and the pages you view) to Google, which processes it on our behalf. We run it in analytics mode only: we do not enable Google’s advertising features and do not use it for cross-site ad targeting, and we do not load analytics on signed-in portal or admin pages.

3. Information from public and third-party sources

Our methodology looks at publicly available signals: business listings and ratings (for example, from Google Maps and other review platforms), review counts, domain-registration records, archived web content, and local press. We may collect this information about businesses in markets we cover, including businesses that have not applied or been nominated, in order to evaluate them against the published criteria. Figures we display (ratings, counts, founding years, and similar) are typically snapshots as of evaluation or last refresh and can change on the source platforms afterward. This is largely information about businesses rather than individuals, but where it identifies a person (for example, a sole proprietor), this Policy applies to it.

4. How we use information

We use information to: evaluate businesses against our methodology; contact business owners and nominators about the program; process applications, payments, and orders; produce and publish winner pages and award assets; operate, secure, debug, and improve the Service; enforce our Terms and prevent fraud and abuse; send transactional and program communications; and comply with legal obligations.

5. How we share information

• Service providers who process data on our behalf: Cloudflare (hosting, security, email delivery), Stripe (payments), and Google (sign-in and public business data). Each is bound by its own terms and privacy commitments.
• Public award record. When a business is recognized, its name, location, category, founding year, award status, and related public facts may appear on winner and directory pages and in program communications. Some businesses are recognized from public evidence without applying first. We publish public, factual information alongside our own opinion; we do not publish negative verdicts. If you operate a listed business and want the listing removed or a specific passage taken down, email us and we will remove it. Revocation notices, when issued, are also public.
• With the nominated business. We may share the substance of a nomination with the business without identifying the nominator.
• Legal and safety. When required by law or legal process, to protect our rights, users, or the public, or to enforce our Terms.
• Business transfers. In connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of the transaction.
• We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. Because we do neither, there is nothing further to opt out of for sale or sharing. Where applicable law treats a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as an opt-out of sale or sharing, that request is already satisfied by our posture of not selling or sharing.

6. Email choices

Program and marketing emails include an unsubscribe method, and we honor opt-outs promptly. Even if you opt out of marketing, we may still send transactional messages — for example, about an active application, a payment, an award, or your account. To stop all email, contact us at the address below.

7. Data retention

We keep information for as long as needed to operate the program, maintain the integrity of the public award record, meet legal, tax, and accounting obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Award and evaluation records are retained as part of the program’s permanent record; winner pages and revocation notices are public by design. Server logs are retained for shorter operational periods.

8. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards: TLS in transit, hashed passwords, HttpOnly session cookies, access controls, and audit logging. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live (including under California law), you may have the right to: know what personal information we collect, use, and share; access a copy of it; correct it; delete it, subject to exceptions (for example, information we must keep for legal compliance, security, or the integrity of the public award record); opt out of sale or sharing (we do neither); and not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@centurionawards.com with your request, or — if you have a portal account — you can review and update your contact details directly in the portal. We will verify your request (typically by confirming control of the email address associated with the information) before acting on it, and respond within the time required by applicable law. You may use an authorized agent, in which case we may require proof of authorization. If we decline a request, we will explain why, and you may appeal by replying to our response.

10. Public information and the award record

The award program is public by design: recognition only works if it can be checked. Winner and directory pages carry public, factual information about a business alongside our own opinion of it. We do not claim that every listed business asked to be included; some businesses are recognized from public evidence without applying first. If you operate a listed business and would rather not be featured, or you do not want us to say something specific about you, contact us at the address below and we will remove the listing or the passage. Requests to correct factual errors on a published page are also welcome.

11. Children

The Service is for adults and businesses. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Where data is processed

We are based in the United States and the Service is intended for U.S. businesses and users. Information is processed in the United States and in other locations where our service providers operate, which may have different data-protection laws than your jurisdiction.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. The current version, with its effective date, will always be posted at this page; for material changes we will take reasonable steps to notify affected account holders. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

14. Contact

Centurion Awards
info@centurionawards.com