Business North Carolina's December 2020 magazine highlights judges' selections for the annual Small Business of the Year contest. Winners include an Asheville HVAC service provider; a Greenville doggy day care; a Raleigh digital marketing firm; and a Wilmington roofing contractor. Other features include an excerpt from a new book about Hugh McColl Jr.; the state's top doctors as chosen by peers; and a look at how the pandemic is revolutionizing wide swaths of the state's economy. Readers will also enjoy stories on North Carolina's thriving sweet potato industry; the pending fate of the most historic building at Research Triangle Park; and 10 North Carolinians who thrived in a most difficult year.