For years, folks have looked forward to voting in the Tahoe Daily Tribune’s Best of Tahoe readers’ choice contest 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
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.
Nominations and voting
- Nomination/First voting round: The contest starts with a nomination/first voting round, where readers can propose businesses, organizations and names 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.
At the same time, readers may vote for their favorite businesses, organizations and businesspeople.
- Final voting round: The excitement builds with the second voting round! This round determines the top 3 entrants in each category.
Nomination guidelines
Our Best of Tahoe 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.
Nominations for individual categories, like Realtor, must include the nominee’s full name and place of business.
Application of our criteria is not an exact science. The Best of Tahoe team uses its best judgment; if you think we’ve made an error, please email best@tahoedailytribune.com.
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.
Category Exceptions and Special Notes
Food & Drink: Businesses that opened in 2025 are eligible for the New Restaurant category.
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 Estate Broker/Company 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 Realtor category.
Services: Note that the Insurance Provider 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.
Shopping: Businesses that opened in 2025 are eligible for the New Business category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the key dates for 2026?
- Nomination/First Voting Period: March 13-25
- Final Voting Round: May 1-15
- Winners announced: July 3
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 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: My business was nominated, and I saw it on the website during the nomination/first voting period, but it is not showing up in the final voting round. Why?
See the guidelines answer above. During the nominations/first voting round our team does its best to vet all nominees. While your business may have appeared during the nomination period/first voting round, our team may have determined it was ineligible for the final voting round.
Q: My business was nominated, but did not make it to the final voting round. I think it should have. How do I register a complaint?
Email us at best@tahoedailytribune.com no later than 24 hours after the Nomination/First Voting Round 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: How are the winners selected?
Winner/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.
We reserve the right to change these guidelines. Check back on this for current guidelines.