The people who make a business journal’s 40 Under 40 list are rarely the 40 most accomplished people under 40 in the city. They are the 40 whose nominations made it easiest for a judging panel to say yes. A regional vice president with a modest résumé and a vivid nomination beats a founder with twice the results and a form that lists job titles. Judges can only score what is written in front of them.
That is good news if you are wondering how to get on 40 under 40 list rankings in your city, because the nomination is entirely in your control. This guide covers how the lists are chosen, what judges look for, and a two-year plan that turns a long shot into a likely pick.
How Business Journal Lists Are Chosen
The best-known local lists are run by American City Business Journals, which publishes business journals in dozens of US markets, from the Atlanta Business Chronicle to the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Most of these publications run an annual 40 Under 40, alongside regional magazines, chambers of commerce, and industry trade groups with their own versions.
The process is similar in most cities. The publication opens nominations months before the list appears. Anyone can submit, including the nominee. A panel, often a mix of editors, past honorees, and local business leaders, reviews the pool and scores each nominee against published criteria. Common criteria are professional achievement, leadership, growth in the role, and community involvement. Honorees are announced, profiled in print and online, and celebrated at an event.
A typical program might draw several hundred nominations for 40 spots. That ratio makes the first read decisive. Judges reviewing a stack of forms are looking for reasons to move a nominee forward, and the forms that hand them those reasons rise.
Check the Rules Before You Write a Word
Every list sets its own rules, and nominations get disqualified every year for avoidable reasons.
Read the age cutoff carefully. Most programs require nominees to be under 40 on a specific date, which may be the nomination deadline, the event date, or January 1 of the list year. Someone who turns 40 a week too early is out.
Read the geography rule. Many business journals require that the nominee live or work in the publication’s coverage area. Remote employees of out-of-state companies sometimes qualify and sometimes do not.
Check whether past nominees can reapply. Most programs welcome repeat nominations, and many honorees were nominated more than once before making the list. That fact is the foundation of the two-year plan below.
Who Should Nominate You?
Self-nominations are allowed in most programs, and many winners nominate themselves. Still, a nomination from someone else can carry more weight when the nominator adds something the nominee cannot say, such as a client describing results or a board member describing leadership.
The best nominator is a person whose name the judges will recognize in your market, writing about something they saw firsthand. A CEO, a nonprofit board chair, or a well-known client works. A family member does not.
If your program allows supporting letters, choose writers who can each add a different angle. One letter from a client describing results, one from a colleague describing leadership, and one from a nonprofit partner describing community work covers more ground than three letters from coworkers saying similar things.
Whoever submits, you should draft the content. Nominators are busy and rarely know your numbers. Give them a finished draft, invite them to add their own sentences, and make sure they submit before the deadline.
Write the Nomination Like a Profile
The most common mistake is writing a résumé. Judges do not need a list of jobs. They need a story they can picture, backed by numbers, written so they can imagine it in the magazine.
We use a seven-part template we call the Profile Stack. Part one is a one-sentence summary of who the nominee is and what they have done, as if it were the first line of the published profile. Part two is the defining achievement, with a specific number and time frame. Part three is a second achievement in a different area, so the nominee is not a one-note story. Part four is leadership, meaning a team built, a person mentored, or a turnaround led. Part five is community involvement, covered in the next section. Part six is a short quote from someone who has worked with the nominee. Part seven is what comes next, a specific goal that tells judges this person is still rising.
Here is what part one looks like in practice. A weak opening reads: “Maria is a dedicated professional with a passion for helping others and a strong record of success in commercial real estate.” A strong one reads: “Maria Chen built the Tucson office of a regional brokerage from a two-person team into the firm’s most profitable branch in four years, and spends her Saturdays running a free first-time homebuyer clinic she founded in 2022.” The second version gives the judges a person, a result, a time frame, and a community story in one sentence, and it reads like something an editor would print.
Specificity wins at every step. “Grew the regional office from 6 to 31 employees in three years and took revenue from $1.2 million to $5.8 million” will beat “drove exceptional growth.” Cut jargon, cut adjectives, and read the draft aloud. If a stranger could not explain your achievement after one read, rewrite it.
Respect the word limits. If the form allows 300 words per answer, write 280. Forms that run long get skimmed.
Ask for help with the numbers. Your finance team, your manager, or your clients can often confirm figures you only remember roughly. A judge cannot verify every claim, but a nomination with exact, consistent numbers reads as trustworthy, and one with round, vague figures reads as guesswork. When people ask how to get on 40 under 40 list rankings without a famous title, this is a big part of the answer: precise evidence beats impressive job titles.
Community Work Is Not Optional
Business journal lists reward people who build their city as well as their company. Nominees with strong careers and no community involvement are often the first to be cut, because judges see them as incomplete.
Community work does not mean a long list of memberships. Judges prefer depth over breadth. A single nonprofit board seat where you led a fundraising campaign, a mentoring program you started, or a volunteer role you have held for five years reads as commitment. Ten memberships with no role read as padding.
If you have little community involvement now, that is the first thing to fix in the two-year plan, because judges can tell the difference between a commitment and a résumé line added last month.
Timing and the Two-Year Plan
Most people treat the list as a one-shot application. People who make it often treat it as a two-year campaign.
In year one, submit a strong nomination even if you think the odds are low. You learn what the form asks, you get your name in front of the panel, and you see who wins. Study the profiles of that year’s honorees. Note the kinds of achievements, the balance between career and community, and the industries represented.
Between nominations, close the gaps. Take on a defined community role. Speak at a local event. Earn one piece of coverage in the same business journal, such as a quote in a story or a contributed article, so the editors know your name. Document results with numbers as they happen rather than reconstructing them a year later.
In year two, submit early with a stronger story and a better nominator. Repeat nominees often arrive with a visibly larger body of work, and judges notice growth.
Mistakes That Sink Strong Candidates
Some of the most accomplished nominees never make the list, and the reasons repeat from city to city.
The first is a nomination written in company voice. Phrases like “drove synergies across verticals” or “led strategic initiatives” tell judges nothing. They also make it hard to tell what the nominee did as opposed to what the team or company did. Use the first person or the nominee’s name, and name the action.
The second is overloading the form with attachments. Some programs allow a résumé or supporting letters. Judges rarely read long attachments in full, and a nomination that relies on them often has thin answers in the main fields. Put the strongest material in the answers themselves.
The third is ignoring the publication. Judges for a business journal list are thinking about the readers of that journal. A nominee whose work matters to the local business community, whether through jobs, investment, a company the city is proud of, or a civic project, fits the brand. A nominee whose achievements are invisible locally, however impressive, is harder to place.
The fourth is a missing photo or bio that does not match. Many programs ask for a headshot and a short bio for publication. Send a professional photo and a bio that matches the nomination exactly. Editors pull from those assets when they publish, and a mismatch creates extra work at the worst moment.
The fifth is giving up after one try. Many honorees are second- or third-time nominees. Each new nomination should show what changed since the last one: a promotion, a new result, a deeper community role.
Learning how to get on 40 under 40 lists is mostly about patience and evidence. The nominees who treat the process as a recurring project, with a running file of results, a community role they care about, and a better nomination each year, tend to end up on the list sooner or later.
After You Make the List
The honor is a starting point. Update your LinkedIn, bio, and company page within a day of the announcement, linking to the official profile. Thank your nominator publicly. Attend the event and meet the other honorees, since your class becomes a network that lasts years.
Then put the credential to work. Pitch yourself for local panels, board seats, and business journal sources lists while the recognition is fresh. A list mention fades after a year unless you use it to open the next door.
Start the nomination draft this month, and by the next deadline you will be the nominee the judges remember.