From the Publisher: Nominations for   annual Readers’ Choice contest underway

In the newspaper business, when something works well and gets a lot of people looking at it, you do it again. How do you know something worked well? When you engage readers to make more than 1,205 nominations and almost 11,500 votes in a promotional contest, plus field several calls from readers wondering when it will start in 2022, you know it was a success!

This week is the start of the nomination period of our third annual “Readers’ Choice Best of the Star” section. This is your opportunity to support your favorite local business, artist, teacher, professional and more, by nominating them in one of the more than 100 categories of eating and drinking; arts and entertainment; health and fitness; local; services; shopping; and sports and recreation.

To nominate, simply go to countystar.com/bestof and recommend your favorite place or person. You can nominate as many times as you like and can nominate for one or all of the categories. 

The website also helps you with filling in the full name and address, but please remember to be as complete as possible. For example, recommend your favorite waitstaff person, but be sure to include the name of the restaurant with their name, so we know how to contact them if they are the winner.

The nomination period runs from May 4 until May 20, a short time period, so make it a point to do your nominations early. We will have promotional ads running in the newspaper, on social media, and online during that time to remind you to submit your nominations. As an added bonus, we will draw the name of one person who makes a valid nomination, and they will win $100 at the end of the contest.

After the nomination period is over, we will go through each of the categories to select the five businesses or people who have gotten the most nominations. We also will look at the nominations to make sure they are valid. Those categories that do not receive two or more nominations will not move on to the voting period.

The voting period for this year’s contest will take place from July 13 through Aug. 7. You will be able to go to the same website, countystar.com/bestof, and see the five finalists in each category. Vote for as many categories as you want. You will be able to vote one time every 24 hours. The contest is online only; no paper ballots will be available.

The winners will be announced on Oct. 6 in a printed section of each of the Isanti-Chisago County Star newspapers and online at countystar.com/bestof. Winners receive a certificate to hang in their business and a window cling. You may have seen some of these in businesses from previous years or in advertisements in the newspapers.

Our goal is to have some fun while bringing awareness to those in our communities who are our favorites. The number of people who made nominations and voted has increased each year, and we know it will continue to be popular again this year. Please participate in the fun!

Jeff Andresis the publisher of Northstar Media and Kanabec Publications. He can be reached at jeff@northstarmedia.net.

(0) comments

Welcome to the discussion.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.