Grand County residents have been voting for their favorite local businesses, organizations and attractions in Sky-Hi News’ annual readers choice awards contest for years. It’s the biggest contest of its kind in Grand County, with thousands of votes cast annually across more than 170 categories.
What’s new for 2025?
Each year, we review all the categories, take some away and add new ones. This year’s new categories include:
Arts & Entertainment
- Best Late-Night Scene (must be open until 10 p.m. or later)
Community
- Best Community Leader
- Best Longstanding Business (must have been in operation for at least 25 years)
Dining
- Best Bartender
Food & Drink
- Best Cocktail
- Best Cocktail Menu
- Best Doughnuts
- Best Locally Brewed Beer
Health & Wellness
- Best Day Spa
Services
- Best Car Wash/Auto Detailing Service
- Best Trash Service/Waste Removal
Sports & Recreation
- Best Boot Fitting Company
- Best Horseback Riding Company
Wedding (a new section this year)
- Wedding Caterer & Bar Services
- Wedding Florist
- Wedding Guest Accommodations
- Wedding Hair & Makeup
- Wedding Photographer
- Wedding Planning & Design
- Wedding Rehearsal & Shower Venue
Make a category suggestion by emailing nmiller@skyhinews.com. After the contest has launched, suggestions will be reviewed for the following year.
How does Best of Grand work?
The contest takes place in two phases: a nomination period followed by one round of voting.
Nomination period
The contest starts with a nomination round, where readers can propose businesses, organizations and people for all of the categories. It takes only one qualified nomination for a nominee to move to the voting round. Last year’s eligible business and organization nominees will automatically be nominated in their respective categories. (Individuals will not automatically be nominated.)
Last year’s nominees will not automatically be added in the following instances:
- Categories that require an individual’s name, such as Artist, Band/Musician, Chef, Doctor, Insurance Agent, Lawyer, Mr. Grand County, Ms. Grand County, Professional Photographer, Server and Teacher.
- Categories where nominees are likely to change from year to year, such as Fundraising Event, Live Music Event, New Business, Nonprofit Project, Place to Work, Restaurant Service and Shopping Customer Service.
- Categories that are new
Readers can make as many nominations as they like.
Voting round
This is the only voting round, and the businesses, organizations and people with the most votes in each category will be crowned Best of Grand. Readers can vote once in each category.
What are the key dates for 2025?
- Nomination period: June 27 to July 4
- Voting round: July 18 to Aug. 1 (voters guide advertising deadline July 11)
- Winners announced at Best of Grand party: Oct. 15
- Best of Grand winners publication on newsstands: Oct. 17 (winners guide advertising deadline Aug. 22)
Fair voting
- Nominees/entrants are prohibited from soliciting votes by offering payments or exchange of value of any kind.
- Voting is limited to one vote in each category per person.
- Even though we require signups, we recognize that some people, in their enthusiasm, may be tempted to vote several times using different email accounts. Please note that voting under multiple email accounts violates the rules.
- We do have systems in place to detect fraudulent voting. When we see evidence of fraudulent voting, we may eliminate all suspect votes at our discretion. In extreme cases, we will remove entrants, as well.
I nominated my business, but I don’t see it showing up on the website. Why is that?
If you’re looking at the site during the nomination period and don’t see a business you nominated, fear not! All valid entries are considered and reviewed. But in order for a nomination to show up on the site, we have to approve it manually. Because we receive thousands of nominations, we may get backlogged.
The good news is your business has to be nominated only once to make it to the voting round.
How are nominations moderated?
- Each nomination will be vetted for accuracy, including whether the business, organization or person is based in Grand County and whether the nominee is an appropriate fit for the category. Incomplete nominations will be removed.
- Categories with fewer than four nominees will be removed from the contest before voting begins.
- The contest is intended for locally owned and operated businesses. National chains will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
How are the winners selected?
Winners are those who receive the most votes in their category. Finalists are those who receive the second- and third-most votes in their category. If there is a tie, we will announce both as winners or finalists.
How often can I vote?
The Best of Grand contest allows unlimited nominations but only one vote per person per category during the voting round.
Can I vote from multiple email accounts?
Voting is limited to one vote per person per category. Even though we require signups, we recognize that some people may be tempted to vote several times using different email accounts. We do have systems in place to detect fraudulent voting. When we see evidence of fraudulent voting, we may eliminate all of the votes cast by those voters. In extreme cases, we will remove entrants, as well.
Why should I participate in Best of Grand?
This contest is fundamentally about celebrating and supporting great Grand County institutions by raising their profile and helping them gain new fans.
Have additional questions? Feel free to email Sky-Hi News Publisher Nicole Miller at nmiller@skyhinews.com.