The Banky™ Award is the only national recognition built specifically for community banks competing on performance rather than size—evaluated blind, mystery-shopped without warning, with no way to buy your way in.

For the banks that earn it, the award becomes the answer to the question every prospect eventually asks: why should I bank here instead of somewhere else? Now you have a third-party answer they cannot argue with—and your competitor does not have it.

Hundreds of banks will apply, and dozens will receive a Banky Award, signifying their excellence in banking. Twenty select banks will be recognized as category finalists in their respective asset classes, in each of these five categories:

• Thank God It’s Monday!™ Culture Bank Award for Outstanding Workplace Culture
• Above-and-Beyond Customer Service Banky™ Award
• Money Smarts Banky™ Award for Financial Literacy Education
• BanksGiving™ Banky™ Award for Philanthropy
• Thought Leadership Banky™ Award

Three elite banks will be selected as finalists for the Extraordinary Bank of the Year Award.

Each will present their accomplishments on stage at the awards. Then the judges and audience of top-performing bankers will vote to choose this year’s Extraordinary Bank of the Year.

I get your skepticism, but there are NO hidden fees to nominate your bank.

Banky Award winners receive an award, a red-carpet photo op, and a complete PR / Marketing kit. They also receive two VIP tickets at an exclusive discount to The Best Banks in America Super Conference and Extraordinary Banking Awards Ceremony.

Category winners receive all of the above, plus special recognition as a category winner. The Extraordinary Bank of the Year Winner receives a NEW CAR—yes, really—wrapped with the winning bank’s logo, announcing their win. Plus, a donation to Johnny’s Ambassadors Program in the winning bank’s local school district—established in the bank’s name to empower student leaders and create a lasting impact in the community.

If you win, the car is yours to keep… forever.

The Awards are a part of The Best Banks in America Super Conference hosted by The Institute for Extraordinary Banking™ in Atlanta.

Unlike most banks—which think differentiation means lofty platitudes like “we have great customer service” or “our people make the difference,” you know that you need extreme, meaningful differentiation from your competitors.

Rate competition has a ceiling. There is always someone willing to go lower. The only way out of that game is to become the kind of institution customers choose before they check the rate.

Winning a Banky gives you the proof to do that—not marketing language, but third-party validation your competitors cannot replicate and your prospects cannot dismiss.

The cost of watching a competitor earn that proof while you waited is not.

A panel of three independent judges, as well as thought leaders, reviews all the applications and selects Banky winners, category finalists and winners, and the three finalists for the Extraordinary Bank of the Year Award.

The identities of the judges are concealed until the awards ceremony to prevent banks from lobbying them.

Simple. Just have your marketing department or executive assistant download an electronic version at BankyAwards.com.

The Best Banks in America Super Conference is September 22-23, 2026.

The Awards are the evening of September 23rd.

Some of the country’s top community bank CEOs have attended the last three conferences and said they found two years’ worth of implementation ideas at each event.

When you attend, you’ll hear the real strategies used by award-winning banks—many banks that chose to build on discipline when it would have been easier to compete on rate. These are strategies that will increase your profits—not theories, but proven, results-driven, real-world, practical strategies that will grow your bank.

Independent judges—whose identities remain concealed until the night of the ceremony—are used specifically to prevent lobbying.

A mystery shopper evaluation is conducted that your team will never see coming. A culture survey requires at least 75% staff participation, because you cannot coach that many people to say the same thing.

There is no fee. There is no relationship that gets you in. There is no way to game it—and that is the whole point.

An award you can buy is not worth hanging on the wall.

Apply by May 20, 2026 → Finalists Notified in June → Awards presented at the Extraordinary Banking Awards on September 23, 2026.