About Best of the Best
In Best of the Best, readers have the last word. The Post-Journal and the Observer are proud to host this readers’ choice awards as a way to recognize the places and people that make this region special. The contest is designed to spotlight local favorites, based on a popular vote of readers and members of the community.
Sign-In Rules
Registration and sign-in are available during the contest’s open periods. If you see a countdown, please return once it completes to register/login or to nominate and/or vote.
Newly registered users can nominate and vote immediately for the first seven (7) days without logging in on the same device.
Once the 7-day period has ended, or should you wish to participate from a different device, you will need to click the “Sign In to Continue Voting” link near the top left of the contest page in the colored bar under the header and contest copy. After entering the email address you registered with, you will receive an email from noreply@mail.revfluent.com containing your personal login link to continue nominating and/or voting. Please check your spam folders in case your email client sent it there. If indeed it was delivered to spam, please mark it as “Not Spam” to ensure you receive communications in your inbox going forward.
Bookmark your personalized login link for quick access! Users do not need to sign in daily from the same device unless browser cookies are disabled.
Sign-in sessions remain active for 30 days. Once a session expires, users will need to sign in again using the bookmark in the email or requesting a new email by clicking the “Sign In to Continue Voting” link again.
Before requesting support, please search your entire email inbox for a message from noreply@mail.revfluent.com containing your login link.
If you still have not received the email, contact support by clicking the “Have a Question” near the top right of the contest page in the color bar under the header and contest copy and we will reply as soon as possible. Please provide the email address you believe you registered with.
DATES TO KNOW
- Nominations open: August 22-27, 2025
- First Voting open: September 27-Oct 2, 2025
- Final Voting open: October 30-November 5 2025
- Winners announced: December 6, 2025
NOMINATIONS AND VOTING
Nomination Round: The contest starts with a nomination round online, where readers can propose businesses, organizations and individuals for all of the categories. This keeps the contest fresh as new businesses and organizations come to the area and as existing ones change and grow.
First Voting Round: In the first voting round, the public votes to narrow the big list of nominated businesses, organizations and attractions down to just the top five in each category.
Final Voting Round: The excitement builds with voting on the top five businesses, organizations and attractions in each category! The top vote-getter in each category will be crowned the winner, and those with the second- and third-most votes will be announced as finalists.
NOMINATION GUIDELINES
Our Best of the Best team does its best to vet all nominees. Here are the guidelines we use:
Businesses and businesspeople located in Chautauqua County, NY, are eligible, with the exception of the Hospital category, which is open to nominees from Chautauqua County and adjacent counties.
We reserve the right to disqualify a business or organization from a category that does not represent a significant focus of its activities.
Nominations for categories that call for individuals, like Real Estate Agent, must include the nominee’s full name and place of business, and may be rejected if that information is not provided.
Application of our criteria is not an exact science. Our team uses its best judgment; if you think we’ve made an error, please email best@post-journal.com.
FAIR VOTING RULES
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 per day.
Even though we require sign-ups, 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.
CATEGORY NOTES
Health: The Hospital category is regional, meaning it is open to nominees from Chautauqua County and its adjacent counties.
Home: The Real Estate Agency category is not intended for individual agents unless they are sole proprietors of an agency or brokerage, in which case that agency or brokerage may be nominated under their name. Individual agents should be nominated in the Real Estate Agent category.
Services: Note that the Insurance Agency category is open to locally based offices or teams of agents or brokers selling insurance directly to buyers. The category is not intended for individual agents, unless they are sole proprietors of an agency or brokerage, in which case that agency or brokerage may be nominated under their name.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: I nominated my business, but I don’t see it showing up on the website in the list of nominees. 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 for a nomination to show up on the site, we must approve it manually. Because we receive thousands of nominations, we can get backlogged.
The good news is your business only must be nominated once to make it to the first round of voting, assuming it met the guidelines. And if it did meet the guidelines, it does not matter if it showed up on the site during the nomination period.
Q: My business was nominated, and I saw it on the website during the nomination period, but it is not showing up in the first voting round. Why?
See the guidelines above. After nominations close and before the first voting round opens, our team does its best to vet all nominees. While your business may have appeared during the nomination period, our team may have determined it was ineligible for the first voting round.
Q: I missed the nomination period. Can my business still be entered in the contest?
Late nominations may be accepted if received promptly after the nomination round closes. They will be reviewed as soon as is practical, and if they meet the criteria for their proposed group and category, they will be included in the first voting round.
Q: My business was nominated, but did not appear in the voting round. How do I register a complaint?
Email us at best@post-journal.com within 24 hours after the first voting period opens. You must identify the group and category and tell us why you think your business should have been included.
Like most humans, we sometimes make mistakes, and if we have, we’ll add your business within moments of our decision.
Q: Do I need to click a submit button to finalize my votes?
No, users do not need to click a submit button when done voting. Votes are recorded as soon as the vote buttons are clicked. If a user decides to change their vote, the change will take place as soon as the vote button next to a different business listing is clicked.
Q: How are the winners selected?
Winners are those that received the most votes in their category. Finalists are those that received the second- and third-most votes in their category.
Q: Why does this contest allow people to nominate/vote every day?
We allow daily voting because it rewards those entrants with passionate supporters. With a single vote per person, entrants with the best name recognition have a distinct advantage, as many voters skim over categories and cast their votes casually. That kind of popularity is an important part of finding the best of Chautauqua County. But we also want to reward the sense of passion some people have for their local favorites, which can be captured in daily voting.
Also: This contest is fundamentally about celebrating and supporting great institutions by raising their profile and helping them gain new fans. With daily voting, the contest raises the visibility of those businesses and organizations that use it to reach out to new and existing customers to ask for their support, through advertising and through their own channels.
We reserve the right to change these guidelines. Check back here for updates.