Nominate your favorites for ‘Best Of’ Contest

Something exciting is returning!

This week, nominations are open for the biggest and fastest-growing Readers’ Choice Best of the Press Contest in the region. Voting grew by more than 35% last year, topping 30,000 votes. Thank you, readers.

Who do you want to see listed on the 2023 ballot? This is your opportunity to support your favorite local business, artist, teacher, professional and more by nominating them in one of over 100 categories.

The seven groups of categories are eating and drinking, arts and entertainment, health and fitness, local services, shopping, and sports and recreation.

Each year, we add new categories to the contest that are requested by readers and important to the area.

These include — the best Italian restaurant, lasagna, streaming service, sports movie, tree service, exterior painting service, exterminator, ski slopes, dog park, disc golf course, dermatology, Pho soup, and chow mein, as well as your favorite Minnesota professional sports team.

“This is a great opportunity for a community member to vote for what they love in those categories in the surrounding communities,” said Patty Steele, director of marketing at Press Publications. “It's a great way for our readers to learn what different businesses have that they are the best in.”

To nominate, simply go to presspubs.com/shoreview/bestof and recommend your favorite place or person.

You can nominate once each day, and can nominate for one or all of the categories.

The easy, online voting tool also helps you fill in the full name and address. However, please remember to be as complete as possible when filling in information. For example, recommend your favorite waitstaff person, but be sure to include the name of the restaurant with their name.

The nomination period runs from Wednesday, May 3, to Friday, May 19. Check your local contest for exact times and dates. You will see plenty of announcements in the newspapers and online, reminding you to submit your nominations.

After the nomination period concludes, we will go through each of the categories to select the five businesses or people who captured the most nominations. They will make it onto the final ballot. We also will look at the nominations to make sure they are valid. Categories that do not receive two or more nominations will not move on to the voting period.

After the ballot is finalized, readers will be able to vote online for their favorites once a day beginning Wednesday, July 12. Once live, the official final ballot can be found at presspubs.com/quad/bestof. Check your local contest for exact times and dates.

The contest is conducted exclusively online: no paper ballots will be used. After voting closes, results will be tallied and winners announced in the fall.