How to Win Best of Miami: Nominations, Finals and Voting
Best of Miami voting is won in two rounds that Miami New Times runs: a reader nomination under your exact business name, then a top-five final. In 2023 each reader could vote once a day until June 10 at 11:59 p.m. Check the edition's rules page for its own limit, offer customers no reward unless those rules allow one, and expect no guarantee, because the count and the paper decide the title.
By Victor Brown · Last updated
Miami New Times runs Best of Miami, and readers settle only part of it
Miami New Times runs Best of Miami, and according to its 2026 issue there are two kinds of winner: editors and contributors gave honors in 340 categories, while readers picked 141 Readers' Choice winners with more than 192,000 clicks. A business can ask customers for help on the reader side only. Editorial honors are not counted from clicks.
That difference decides where your effort goes. If your category belongs to the editors, customer enthusiasm does nothing for it, and the useful move is to be worth writing about. If it sits on the Readers' Choice side, the count is yours to earn, one regular at a time. The program is not new either: the paper's archive holds a Best of Miami edition from 2000, and in our tracking Miami New Times Best Of shows an edition in each of five years from 2022 to 2026.
Reader picks have gone through a sign-in rather than an anonymous form. In 2013 readers logged in first and could then choose in as many categories as they liked; in 2023 the paper sent readers to a separate poll site. Expect an account step and warn customers before they reach it, because a surprise login is exactly where a busy person gives up.
When the Best of Miami readers poll opens and closes
Best of Miami readers poll dates move between editions. In 2018 nominations closed before May 2 and the final round opened May 7. In 2023 the poll stayed open until June 10 at 11:59 p.m. For 2026 the paper announced its winners in the June 17 issue, in print and online.
In our tracking, a contest database snapshot dated 2026-10-02, both dated records for the paper's poll open in June and close in June, and the next expected edition is 2027. I'd read June as the month recent reader rounds ended, not as a fixed date. The 2018 calendar ran roughly a month earlier, and nothing stops the paper from moving it again.
Florida's wider calendar points elsewhere. According to our tracking, March is the most common opening month among 446 recurring Florida programs, at 14% of 446. According to the same tracking, the median voting or nomination promotion that a platform dates at both ends lasts 28 days, measured over 100 records from 2016 to 2026. Four weeks is short. A business that starts asking on the day the final opens has already let the nomination weeks pass.
From nomination to the top five: reaching the Miami finalist list
Reaching the Best of Miami final has meant a top-five place in a category once nominations close; Miami New Times described that cut in 2013 and used it again in 2018. Every nomination has to point at the same business under the same name, so settle one spelling before the window opens.
The 2018 edition added a catch: each reader nominated in at least ten categories. A customer who only cares about your bakery still has to fill nine other categories. Say so in the message, plainly, or some of them will stop at one.
Category choice matters as much as spelling. The 2013 nomination round spread across more than 100 categories, and the 2026 issue honored locals in 340. Choose the one or two where customers already describe you that way. A taco shop that spreads its regulars across three food categories splits its own support three ways, and can miss the top five in all of them.
- Your business name exactly as it appears on the sign, and nothing else.
- The one category you want, worded the way the poll words it.
- A note that the edition may ask each reader for picks in several categories, as the 2018 round asked for ten.
- The closing date of the nomination round, copied from the poll page.
What Miami New Times threw out, and what to ask first
Miami New Times has disqualified votes before: its Best of Miami 2000 archive says some readers stuffed the count, and the paper threw those votes out. Later editions set the allowance in plain words, such as the 2023 limit of one vote a day for each reader until June 10.
Rewards for customers are the open question. Before offering a free coffee, a discount or a raffle entry to people who pick you, find the line about incentives on that edition's rules page. No line? Email the paper, ask, and keep the reply. I'd treat silence as a no until Miami New Times says yes in writing.
Repeat picks are the other trap. A once-a-day allowance is a limit for each reader, and each customer should use their own login. Never collect anyone's password to save them time. The 2000 note shows the paper reads its own count and acts on what it finds, and a business does not get to argue the point afterwards.
Local business award voting in Miami is won at the counter
Local business award voting in Miami turns on regulars who remember to pick you on each day the poll allows; the 2023 edition allowed one pick a day until June 10. Those regulars are already at your counter, on your receipts and on your email list, so the work starts with them, not with strangers.
I'd put a small card by the register with the category and the exact name, and pin one post on your own social accounts. One request when nominations open, one when the final round opens, then short reminders on the poll's rhythm. Ask every single day for four weeks, though, and your favorite regular will start taking the long way round your shop.
Example scenario (illustrative - not a client result): a family restaurant in a Miami neighborhood plans the run from the nomination window to the final. It names one category, prints its name the way the poll will show it, asks diners once during nominations, checks the finalist list, and then reminds regulars on the days the final allows, stopping the day before the close.
Best of Miami awards and outside promotion: what an agency may touch
Voting Now does not sell votes for Best of Miami awards or for any other contest. We sell poll promotion: paid ads, native PR, posts by creators and blogger groups, and our own social channels, aimed at real Miami readers who decide for themselves. Promotion reaches the reader round only, never the editors' honors.
Poll promotion is priced the way advertisers price leads, with a quote agreed before anything runs. Nobody can promise a business the title: readers make the picks and Miami New Times counts them. Before we take a Best of Miami job, we read that edition's rules with you, and if they shut out outside advertising for entries, we say no and point you back to your regulars.
Send us the poll link and your category on WhatsApp for a free analysis; sometimes the honest answer is that your regulars are enough.
| Stage | Rule to check first | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nomination round | How many categories each reader must fill; the 2018 edition asked for at least ten. | Give customers your exact name, your one category and the category minimum in one message. |
| Category list | How many categories the edition offers; the 2013 round had more than 100. | Choose one or two categories where customers already think of you, not every possible one. |
| Finalist cut | Whether the top five in each category still advance, as in 2013 and 2018. | Check the finalist list the day it appears and drop any category you missed. |
| Final round opening | The start date of the last public round; in 2018 it began May 7. | Send your main request on opening day, with the category and the business name. |
| Daily allowance | How often a reader may pick; the 2023 edition allowed once a day. | Ask regulars for one daily pick through their own login, never more. |
| Login step | Whether readers sign in before choosing, as the 2013 poll required. | Warn customers about the sign-in so nobody quits halfway through the form. |
| Rewards for customers | Any line about incentives, discounts or drawings for people who take part. | Offer nothing for a pick until Miami New Times confirms it in writing. |
| Close and winners | The closing minute (11:59 p.m. on June 10 in 2023) and the issue date (June 17 for 2026). | Stop asking before the deadline and read the results in print and online. |
| When promotion is the wrong call | Any clause that shuts out outside advertising or promotion for entries. | Skip paid poll promotion and work only with customers who already know you. |
Step by step
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Screenshot the poll announcement
Save the paper's announcement for the edition you enter, with its dates, its category count and its daily allowance. Dates move between editions, from a May 7 final in 2018 to a June 10 close in 2023.
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Pick one spelling of your name
Agree inside the business on one name, written as customers know it from the sign and the receipts. Every nomination and every final-round pick should point at that same spelling.
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Ask during the nomination weeks
Send one message while nominations are open, naming the category and any category minimum. A business that waits for the final round has missed the top-five cut it needed to make.
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Look for your top-five spot
Check the finalist list the day Miami New Times posts it. If you are not among the five in a category, stop asking for that one and save the effort for the next edition.
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Space reminders before the close
Remind regulars on the poll's own rhythm, no more than once a day when the edition allows a daily pick, and stop a day before the closing minute so nobody lands on a closed form.
Questions and answers
How do Miami businesses win local business awards like Best of Miami?
Miami businesses win local business awards like Best of Miami by getting nominated under one exact name, reaching the top five, then earning daily picks in the final. Miami New Times used that top-five structure in 2013 and 2018. The rest is regulars: people who already come in and will spend a few seconds a day on you. Skip rewards unless the paper's rules allow them.
Would a Best of Miami plan help a business get Best of Omaha?
Yes. The habits carry over: one exact name, one category, and requests timed to the poll's own rounds. The rules do not carry over. Omaha's poll sets its own nomination format, finalist cut and daily allowance, and none of the Miami New Times dates or limits apply there. Read that poll's rules page first, then rebuild the plan around what it says.
What changes if you try to win Best of Boston after Best of Miami?
The publisher, the rounds and the dates change, because Boston's poll answers to its own organizer, not to Miami New Times. Keep what travels: one name, one category, regulars first. Replace everything dated. The 2023 Miami allowance of one pick a day and its June close say nothing about Boston, so copy that poll's own limit before asking anyone.
What does getting nominated for Best of Las Vegas share with Miami's nominations?
Getting nominated for Best of Las Vegas and for Best of Miami shares one demand: customers must name your business the same way during a short nomination window. The details belong to each paper. Miami New Times asked for picks in at least ten categories in 2018 and sent the top five to a final; Las Vegas rules may count differently.
Is Miami New Times Best of 2026 already decided?
Yes. Miami New Times closed its 2026 Readers' Choice poll and named the winners in its June 17 issue, in print and online. Miami New Times announced more than 192,000 reader votes behind 141 winners in that issue. A business aiming at the title should prepare for the next edition, which our tracking expects in 2027, starting with the nomination round.
Is a Miami Best of the Best 2026 title the same as Best of Miami?
No. Best of Miami is the Miami New Times program, with 141 Readers' Choice winners in its 2026 issue. A 'best of the best' badge from another Miami publisher or directory runs under that publisher's own rules, so check who counts the picks, how often a reader may choose and whether rewards are allowed before asking customers.
Sources
- miaminewtimes.com. miaminewtimes.com/restaurants/best-of-miami-readers-choice-2018-voting-open-10231458.
- miaminewtimes.com. miaminewtimes.com/news/best-of-miami-readers-poll-is-open-tell-us-about-your-favorite-spots-you-slackers-6543089/.
- miaminewtimes.com. miaminewtimes.com/restaurants/new-times-2023-best-of-miami-readers-poll-is-open-for-voting-16907856.
- miaminewtimes.com. miaminewtimes.com/best-of-miami/2000/.
- miaminewtimes.com. miaminewtimes.com/arts-culture/best-of-miami-2026-is-here-40558971.
Voting Now cannot add a single pick to the Best of Miami count or sway the Miami New Times editors who hand out their own honors. We never buy or supply votes for this poll or any other contest, and we never use bots, extra accounts, borrowed logins or rewards for customers. We do not work on political or governmental votes. When an edition's rules shut out outside promotion, we turn the job down and say so.
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