You did! 225 area residents were invited to nominate and vote for candidates at 225batonrouge.com. Anyone residing in a greater Baton Rouge ZIP code and with a valid email address could participate.
It’s a two-part process:
Round 1—Nominations: On a fill-in-the-blank ballot, participants can write in their favorite local businesses and people. This year, nominations ran Jan. 15 to Feb. 5.
Round 2—Voting: The people and businesses that received the most nominations in each category are listed on the ballot. Voting was open Feb. 27 to March 27 this year.
Each participant was able to nominate and/or vote for each category one time. Our tech team ensures that votes can’t be rigged or stacked.
Most likely, yes. Our team treats nominations as a time to test out new categories. Sometimes it becomes clear certain categories are not yet a fit for our audience. If response is low and there aren’t enough nominations to generate a good pool of competitors (at least five nominees), the category is removed. But that doesn’t mean we won’t try it again in the future!
We do have a write-in option: our nomination period. The entire ballot is comprised of whatever businesses or people our readers nominate in each category. Whether they end up on the final ballot is determined entirely by how many people nominate them for a category.
Winners are chosen by how many votes they received, so naturally the most well-known, beloved businesses in town are more likely to win. But we like to think Best of 225 is about more than just the winners. There are plenty of smaller, up-and-coming businesses moving up the ranks. If you’re searching for hidden gems, check out the runners up.
No. 225 has many advertisers who have never won an award. We also have longtime, repeat winners who have never advertised with us. We uphold the highest ethical journalism standards, and the winners of Best of 225—as well as the subjects of every story in the magazine—are never determined by advertising.
We publish a new Best of 225 Awards edition each year. To keep things fresh, we switch up our categories each year—adding a few new ones and bringing back some old favorites. Feel free to leave suggestions for new categories in the comments online. We’ll take them into consideration as we plan the 2020 awards.
Watch 225batonrouge.com in early January 2020 for instructions on how to participate.
You can reach our team at [email protected] for more info. We will be happy to answer your questions.
See the 2019 Best Of 225 Food and Drink winners.
See the 2019 Best Of 225 People and Entertainment winners.
See the 2019 Best Of 225 Shopping and Services winners.
This article was originally published in the July 2019 issue of 225 Magazine.
