The Best Of Long Island
It time to vote for the best in Long Island. This is the sixth year of the Long Island Press’ Best of L.I. poll, and it’s also by far the biggest. It is expected that more than 300,000 Long Islanders will vote. Participation in this high-profile awards program is extremely high, as it is felt that this competition highlights the very BEST that Long Island has to offer.
What is the Best of LI? – It’s a competition that is organized by Long Island Press and allows residents of Long Island to vote for which business is their favorite in over 215 categories.
The first step was establishing a comprehensive nomination process, so that any company that does business on LI had an opportunity to be in the running. This nomination process was open to everyone, for two months, from July through August. The winners of our 2010 poll were automatically nominated again, so that they could defend their titles.
The top 15-18 nominees (20 in the Best Restaurant Category) advanced to the voters round. Voting began on October 1, 2010 and will end on December 15, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. Important to Note
Any person with access to a computer, laptop or cell phone and has an email address may vote one time per day, per category per computer device or Email Address. Only 75 votes per Email address will count towards the final vote total of each category.
The winners – On December 16, 2010 the votes will be tabulated and the top three local business, organizations or individuals will win First, Second, and Third Place. The definition of local is if the entity ownership or franchisee resides on Long Island.
Is this a real competition or a popularity contest? – But are people really voting for their favorite business or are they been courted, lobbied and even badgered to vote? It is felt by some this is really a popularity contest and those businesses that have the most aggressive marketing campaigns will win. Long Island Press actively supports nominees’ soliciting votes using social networks like Facebook as well as the various advertising packages and tools they offer each nominee. Some even believe that this competition is merely another revenue earner for LI Press.
So what do you think, is Best of LI a true competition or just another popularity contest?
The Best of Long Island is most definitely a popularity contest, and a way to bring readership to The Long Island Press. And a year-long advertisement for the paper as well, since the winners display the banners & signs. That being said, I know many of the people that have been nominated, or have won, & they are deserving of the honor & good at what they do. I also know many people who have not been nominated, that are positively wonderful at what they do. The contest is a win-win for the participants/winners, and the Long Island Press. It’s a tool, another way to get your name out there. Hey, if there was a personal trainer category, I wouldn’t mind being in there, but I’d still hope people would do their research on my qualifications and references before hiring me, and not let a contest be their deciding vote.
In my opinion, I think you’re on to something there…a way for LI press to generate more revenue.
Ads on the web site from local businesses saying thanks for nomination.. now please VOTE for me. The best and most aggressive marketers will be the winners with the most votes.
But hey.. it is fun, and I was excited to see my company’s name up on the list as nominated for this year! I have only been in business 2 years and 10 months.
Gail ~ 7 in Heaven Singles Events
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Nice to see you blogging about this controversial topic.
Nice post — thanks for sharing.
Hello there everyone
Just catching up on this.
Thank you for explaining the best of LI voting process. I feel pretty strong about this myself and will be voting to support my fellow Long Islanders.
The contest is complete BS and is purely a way for the Long Island Press to get advertising dollars. In the past, it was still BS, but a little more fair. Let me explain. Prior years each person could cast one vote (based on IP address) and the one who had the most votes wins.
This year they changed the rules for some stupid reason. Each person could vote one time per day for as many days as the contest ran.
The result?
A single person voting 30 days in a row means more than 25 different people each voting one time. Talk about the possibility of manipulation. Come on, the contest is a joke.