The News-Gazette is kicking off its first-ever Best of Rockbridge Awards contest today. July 29, and is accepting nominations for your favorite local businesses, organizations and people.
During the nomination period, News-Gazette readers are encouraged to nominate businesses and organizations in over 100 categories. You may submit as many nominations as you want, and it only takes one nomination to put that business or organization into the contest.
CornerStone Bank is our contest sponsor, and The News-Gazette appreciates greatly their enthusiasm for helping us bring Best of Rockbridge to the area.
So, how does the Best of Rockbridge contest work?
The contest starts with a nomination round, where readers can propose businesses, organizations and people for all sorts of categories. Those wishing to nominate can go to thenews-gazette/bestof, which is where you would also go to vote one the voting round begins. It takes only one qualified nomination for a nominee to move to the voting round. Readers can make as many nominations as they like, and there’s no cost at all to nominate. Nominations can be made up through August 19.
Voting begins on August 26. There is only one voting round, and the businesses, organizations and people with the most votes in each category will be crowned Best of Rockbridge, and highlighted in the winners guide. Nominees receiving the second- and third-most votes will be declared Finalists. Readers can vote once in each category once a day, and most vote in three different categories for votes to count. Voting ends September 23.
The winners will be announced in The News-Gazette on October 14. All winners and finalists will receive a certificate.
There are 114 categories in which to nominate, and to cast votes when the voting begins in August. All nominations and voting is done on line.
Some fun categories include Best Local Band, Best Personal Trainer, Best Family Dining, Best Hair Salon, Best Pizza, Best Dog-Friendly Business, and many more.
Categories are divided into groups thirteen groups: Arts and Entertainment, Automotive, Body and Soul, Dining Out, Finance, Food and Drink, Health, Home Improvement, Kids and Education, Pets, Real Estate, Services, and Shopping.
Besides our contest sponsor, Corner-Stone Bank, we have group sponsors helping to make the contest possible. Alcove Mortgage, Spencer Home Center, Magic City Ford of Lexington and Collins and Hepler, Attorneys at Law are also partnering with the newspaper to bring Best of Rockbridge to the area.
Full contest rules are available at https://bit.ly/4wsOaSf.
While the contest focuses on local businesses and organizations, national and regional chains will be considered on a case-by-case basis. However, the contest is fundamentally about celebrating and supporting great Rockbridge area businesses and organizations. Have fun and get your nominations in!
