As our avid Leader readers know, it is Best of the Best time in Leaderland. The print ballot came out in this week’s Leader published on Monday and will be out again in print in this week’s Off the Water. For those of you who are print-only readers, these will be our only print ballots. The contest can also be assessed online at www.leaderpub.com or by going to the “contest” button on any of our newspaper fan pages.

This year, we are encouraging you to do your voting online by offering prizes by random drawing. We will provide one $100 and five $25 gift certificates from the businesses that win their categories this year.

Like any Best-Of competition, this is a popularity contest. Our hope is that everybody plays fair. We will accept up to two votes per person, one print and one online.
Being voted the “Best” by you is an honor that most businesses and service providers are thrilled to receive. Like we saw in the recent presidential election, aggressive businesses will work hard to get their customers to participate and, of course, vote for them. I encourage all of you to vote for your personal favorites.
Beyond business, we once again feature other area “Bests,” including teachers, government officials, beaches, people watching and hiking. Check out your ballot today for more information.

Print ballots must be postmarked or delivered to our office by March 18. Online submissions must be made by midnight April 7. Our Best of the Best magazine featuring the winners will appear in Off the Water on April 26 and in the Leader on April 29. And like all of our publications now, an electronic version will be posted at www.leaderpub.com on April 25.

Thinking forward to 2014, let me know if you see any business or service category that may be missing. Or you may have an idea for a fun lifestyle category that we may add. Have fun and remember to vote once or twice but, please, no ballot stuffing.