Best of Utah FAQ
For years, residents have looked forward to voting in the Daily Herald’s The Best of Utah Valley Readers Choice Awards to support their favorite local businesses, organizations, people and attractions. We’re proud to host it as a way to recognize the places and people that make this region special.
Sign-In Rules
Newly registered users can immediately nominate/vote for a short time (for 7 days), without clicking the emailed “Log Me In!” link. After 7 days users will need to click the “Sign In to Continue” link and enter the email address used to register. An email will be sent containing a personalized login link to continue nominating or voting. Users do not have to re-sign in everyday unless browser cookies are disabled. Be sure to bookmark the personalized login link for easy access!
All users have to click the “Log Me In!” link once their session expires to continue nominating/voting (for 30 days). After 30 days users will need to click the “Sign In to Continue” link and enter the email address they used to register. Another email will be sent containing your personalized login link to continue nominating/voting.
Before sending an email for assistance, please be sure to search your entire email account for an email from noreply@mail.revfluent.com to find the email containing your personalized login link.
If you did not receive an email from noreply@mail.revfluent.com containing your personalized login link, please send an email to support@ogdensharedservices.freshdesk.com requesting your login link.
Nominations and voting
The contest starts with a nomination/voting round, where readers can propose businesses, organizations and names for all of the categories, including new categories. This keeps the contest fresh as new businesses and organizations come to the area and as existing ones change and grow.
At the same time, readers may vote to narrow the big list of nominees down to just the Top Three in each category.
Fair voting rules
Nominees/entrants are prohibited from soliciting votes by offering payments or exchange of value of any kind.
We do have systems in place to detect fraudulent voting. When we see evidence of fraudulent voting online, we may eliminate all suspect votes at our discretion. In extreme cases, we will remove entrants, as well.
Nomination guidelines
Our Readers Choice team does its best to vet all nominees. Here are the guidelines we use, with exceptions as noted below:
We reserve the right to disqualify a business or organization from a category that does not represent a significant focus of its activities.
Nominees must, in most categories, be open to the general public. (That is, no restrictive membership organizations.) Exceptions include golf courses.
Nominations for individual categories, like Real Estate Agent, must include the nominee’s full name and place of business.
Application is not an exact science. The Readers Choice team uses its best judgment; if you think we’ve made an error, please email best@heraldextra.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the key dates for 2024?
- Voting Round: March 2-18
- Winners announced: May 18
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/voting 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 can get backlogged.
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 nominating/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?
First place goes to those that received the most votes in their category. Second place is awarded to those that received the second-most votes, and Third place goes to the entrant with the third-most votes in their category.
If there is a tie, we will announce both.
Category Exceptions and Special Notes
Health: In categories where we asked for practices, we try to exclude individual practitioners, unless they operate solo practices named after themselves.
Home Services: The Real Residential 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 Residential 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.