How to Win Best of Denver: Nominations, Finals and Voting
Best of Denver voting is won in Westword's Readers' Choice poll: readers pick daily, may write in any name, and the top vote-getter in each category wins. A business gets onto the poll list as an earlier top vote-getter, through Westword's paid Vote for Me package, or by write-ins under one exact name. The 2026 poll closed March 9. Whether the daily allowance counts per category is on that year's rules page, and nobody outside Westword can promise a result.
By Victor Brown · Last updated
Who runs Westword Best of Denver voting, and how is it counted?
Westword runs the Best of Denver Readers' Choice poll on its own website, and the count decides each title. Readers pick favorites in categories that other readers suggested, they may return daily while the poll is live, and the business with the top tally in a category wins it.
The list on the page is a starting point, not a fence. Westword prints names in each category, folds in earlier top vote-getters automatically, and lets any reader type a name the paper did not print. For a shop that opened after the previous poll closed, that write-in line is the whole way in.
Because the poll sits on Westword's own site, every part of the tally belongs to the paper: the daily return, the category list, whatever checks run on the clicks, and the call on who won. Followers on Facebook or a glowing review average count for nothing until those people open the poll page and choose you. That sounds obvious. It is also the mistake I'd expect a busy owner to make first, because a full dining room feels like support, and support only shows up in the result when someone takes the extra minute to click.
Best of Denver runs in March, and the 2026 poll closed March 9
Westword's 2026 Readers' Choice poll for Best of Denver ran through 11:59 p.m. on March 9. In our tracking, all 5 dated Westword listings in Colorado open in March and all 5 close in March (snapshot of 2026-10-02), so the readers' round starts and ends inside one month.
One month is short. Across Colorado, the median voting or nomination promotion in our tracking runs 28 days (33 promotions with both dates, starting 2016 through 2025). March is the most common opening month for recurring Colorado programs, 24 of 105, while October is the most common closing month, 17 of 105. Denver's paper sits at the early, compressed end of that spread, and a business that starts thinking about the poll in April has missed it.
In our tracking, Best of Denver has an edition recorded in 6 years of the 2020-2026 window, and the next is expected in 2027. Westword sets those dates, not anyone's model, so I'd treat March as the month to be ready rather than a promise. Our tracking also files 10 recurring public-vote programs under metro Denver, 9 on organizers' own sites and 1 on GoGo Photo Contest; Best of Denver is the one carrying Westword's name, and the one most customers will recognize when you ask.
Getting your name onto Westword's list is the real nomination
Westword's Best of Denver list fills three ways: earlier top vote-getters are added automatically, some businesses pay for the paper's Vote for Me advertising package to make sure of a spot on the poll, and readers can write in any name at all.
Westword's 2026 announcement describes a single readers' round in which the top vote-getter wins; it mentions no finalist cut. If you know two-stage polls from another city, with a write-in month followed by a shortlist, don't sit and wait here for a finalist email. Should a later edition add a shortlist, its poll page will say so, and the plan changes with it.
Write-ins carry one weakness: spelling. One customer types your full registered name, another types the nickname on the awning, a third adds the neighborhood. Westword does not say whether it merges variants, and I wouldn't spend March finding out. Pick the name on your sign and repeat it, letter for letter, in every message you send.
Westword sells poll placement, and placement is not a win
Westword's Vote for Me advertising package puts a business's name on the Best of Denver poll, and the paper describes no other effect. Each category still goes to its top vote-getter, so a listed name that customers skip finishes behind a write-in that customers keep choosing.
Plaques are the other money question. Westword warns that a company contacting you to sell a plaque is not associated with the Best of Denver awards. Treat that call as a stranger's sales pitch: whatever that caller sells, the paper does not stand behind it as a Best of Denver award.
Westword's Best of Denver page and its 2026 announcement do not spell out a rule on rewards for picks or on extra email addresses. I'd treat both as off limits all the same, because the poll is Westword's and so is any decision to throw out a tally it distrusts. Before you ask a single customer, look for these points on that edition's rules page and copy them into your notes:
- Whether the daily return counts once per category or once for the whole poll
- Any clause on discounts, drawings or freebies offered in exchange for a pick
- How many email addresses one person may use to take part
- Who settles disputes, and when Westword treats the results as final
- The closing hour and the time zone it is stated in
Local business award voting in Denver rewards customers who come back
Best of Denver gives every reader a fresh pick each day the poll is live, so a Denver business wins with regulars who return to Westword's page several times, not with one big announcement. Hundreds of categories sit on the poll, and a customer who cannot find yours quickly may not look twice.
The ask belongs where your regulars already are: the counter, the table, the receipt, your newsletter, your own Instagram. Put a small card by the register with the category name as Westword prints it, your exact business name and the closing date. Then say it out loud. A card nobody mentions is decoration, and your most loyal regular will happily walk past it for a month.
Example scenario (illustrative - not a client result): a neighborhood restaurant learns in early March that the poll is live. The owner finds the category, sees the restaurant is not printed, and settles on the name from the sign. Servers mention the write-in at the end of meals, the newsletter repeats it, and the asks stop the night the poll closes. Whether that is enough depends on how many regulars the competing places bring, and only Westword's tally knows that.
Hiring Voting Now for a Westword poll: what we run and what we refuse
Voting Now does not sell votes in the Best of Denver poll. We sell promotion for a Westword poll entry: paid ads, native PR, posts from partner creators and blogger groups, and our own social channels, aimed at real people around Denver who might choose your business. No bots and no fake accounts.
Promotion for a Best of Denver poll entry is priced the way advertisers price leads, and the quote is agreed before anything runs. We read that edition's rules first. If Westword's poll rules rule out paid promotion of an entry, we decline the job and tell you which clause stopped us.
Promotion puts your name in front of people who live and eat in Denver. It cannot make them choose you, it cannot touch Westword's count, and it adds nothing in a category where you are a poor fit. When only a win will do, I'd keep the money and work the counter instead. Send us the poll link on WhatsApp for a free analysis.
| Stage | Rule to verify | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Category list goes live | Categories come from reader suggestions; check that your trade has its own category | Find your category before you ask any customer for anything |
| Getting onto the list | Earlier top vote-getters are added automatically; others rely on write-ins or the Vote for Me package | Check whether you are printed and copy the exact spelling Westword used |
| Write-in names | Readers may type any name; the rules may not say whether variant spellings merge | Give every customer the same name, letter for letter, to type |
| Daily picks | Readers can return daily; confirm whether that counts per category or per poll | Space reminders across the whole run instead of one big push |
| Best of Denver 2026 close | The 2026 poll ran through 11:59 p.m. on March 9 | Send the final reminder well before the closing hour of that edition |
| Plaque sales calls | Westword says plaque sellers are not associated with the Best of Denver awards | Decline the call; a plaque from a stranger proves nothing to Westword |
| When outside promotion is wrong | Rules for that poll bar paid promotion of an entry, or only a win will do | Skip outside promotion and rely on regulars at the counter |
Step by step
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Watch for Westword's March launch
In our tracking, every dated Westword listing in Colorado opens in March. Set a reminder for the first days of March and, once the poll page is up, save that edition's announcement and rules.
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Find your category and name
Open the category your customers would look in and check whether your business is printed. If it is, copy the exact spelling Westword used; if it is not, plan around write-ins from regulars.
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Fix one spelling for everyone
Choose the name on your sign and use it on the register card, in the newsletter and in every post, so write-ins from different customers land on one name instead of three.
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Ask regulars, offer nothing back
Ask in person and on your own channels. Leave discounts, drawings and freebies for a pick out of it unless that edition's rules plainly allow them, and never collect anyone's login or email.
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Stop at the posted closing hour
The 2026 poll ran until 11:59 p.m. on March 9. Send the last reminder before the posted hour of that year's edition, then stop; Westword's tally decides the category.
Questions and answers
How do Denver shops win local business awards in a readers' poll?
Denver shops win local business awards such as Best of Denver by getting onto Westword's poll list under one exact name and bringing regulars back daily until it closes. The top vote-getter in each category takes the title, so steady picks from real customers matter more than reach. Get listed through a write-in, an automatic spot as an earlier top vote-getter, or the paper's Vote for Me package, and keep rewards out of the ask.
When did the Denver Westword Best of 2026 poll close?
The Denver Westword Best of 2026 Readers' Choice poll closed at 11:59 p.m. on March 9, 2026. In our tracking, every dated Westword listing in Colorado opens and closes in March, and the next Best of Denver edition is expected in 2027. Westword announces the exact window, so watch its poll page in early March rather than relying on the previous year's date.
Does Westword's Vote for Me package win a business the poll?
No. Westword's Vote for Me advertising package makes sure a business's name gets a spot on the Best of Denver poll, and each category is still won by its top vote-getter. A listed name needs customers who choose it, exactly as a write-in does. Read the package as a listing decision, not as a shortcut to the title.
Are plaque sellers part of the Best of Denver awards?
No. Westword says a business that contacts you to sell a plaque is not associated with the Best of Denver awards. A plaque from such a caller carries no endorsement from the paper. If you win, Westword announces the title itself, and anything you display on the wall should match what the paper publishes.
Would the Denver approach help a business get Best of Omaha?
Yes. The habits behind a Denver result carry to Best of Omaha: one exact name, regulars asked across the whole window, and nothing offered in return for a pick. The mechanics do not carry. Westword's write-in line, daily return and Vote for Me package belong to the Denver poll, so read the Omaha organizer's own rules for its list, its allowance and its dates.
Does a Denver write-in plan work to win Best of Boston?
No. A Denver write-in plan does not carry to Best of Boston unchanged, because it leans on features of Westword's poll: open write-ins, daily returns and a paid listing package on the poll. The Boston organizer decides its own stages and who picks the winners, so start from that publication's about page and rules. What transfers is the discipline of one exact name and steady asks to real customers.
Do Denver's write-in habits help you get nominated for Best of Las Vegas?
Yes. Giving customers one exact business name to type is the habit any nomination form rewards, and it sits at the core of a Denver write-in. Everything else changes: the Las Vegas organizer sets its own nomination window and category rules, so read them before you ask anyone. Keep rewards out of the request there too unless those rules clearly allow them.
Sources
- westword.com. westword.com/opinion/best-of-denver-readers-choice-poll-is-live-18950762/.
- westword.com. westword.com/best-of-denver/2026/.
- westword.com. westword.com/opinion/best-of-denver-readers-choice-poll-is-live-18950762/.
- westword.com. westword.com/best-of-denver/2026/.
- westword.com. westword.com/opinion/best-of-denver-readers-choice-poll-is-live-18950762/.
Voting Now does not buy, trade or generate picks in Westword's Best of Denver poll, and it never uses bots, fake accounts or extra email addresses for a client. We cannot change Westword's count, its category list, its handling of write-ins or its March closing hour, and we cannot promise a title in any category. We turn the job down when that edition's poll rules bar paid promotion of an entry. We take no work on political or governmental votes of any kind.
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