How to Win Best of Richmond: Nominations, Finals and Voting
Best of Richmond voting at Richmond Magazine is won with real reader picks in one survey, with no rewards for voters and no forms filled in for anyone. The 2026 Best & Worst survey closed on April 27 at 11 p.m., and editors compiled and screened the results before winners were shared. Businesses may ask customers and fans for support. Nobody can promise a category win, because readers make the picks and the magazine's editors compile the results.
By Victor Brown · Last updated
Richmond Magazine's Best & Worst survey: one form, 192 categories
Richmond Magazine runs Best of Richmond voting as a single reader survey called Best & Worst, and the 2026 edition published winners in 192 categories. Readers pick directly in that survey. The magazine's voting page describes no separate nomination round before the public count, and no finalist list either.
The name confuses owners. Richmond Magazine's survey carries the title Best & Worst because the magazine invites readers to name their favorites and to let loose about the worst in the same sitting. The worst half is a joke with teeth. For a business, the half that matters is the list of favorites, and 192 categories is a lot of shelves for one survey to stock.
Readers do the picking, and the magazine handles the tally. Before any winner was shared in 2026, the editors compiled the responses and screened them, and only then passed them on to the advertising staff. That order matters to an owner in one practical way: an odd pattern can be dealt with before a name ever appears in print, and the voting page describes no appeal.
April 27 at 11 p.m.: Richmond's calendar in dates and counts
Richmond Magazine's 2026 survey closed on April 27 at 11 p.m., and its voting page printed no start date. In our tracking, Best of Richmond shows an edition in each of 9 years from 2018 through 2026, and the next edition is expected in 2027.
The same tracking holds one curated row for the magazine, and it lists August as both the usual opening and the usual closing month (1 of 1 rows, snapshot of 2026-10-02). The 2026 close in April does not fit that row. I'd treat the old month as a hint at most, and the date printed on the magazine's own voting page as the only one that binds.
Virginia as a whole leans toward summer. In our tracking, among 192 recurring Virginia programs with a recorded usual opening month, June is the most common, and among the same 192 with a recorded closing month, August is the most common. In our tracking of 104 Virginia voting and nomination promotions dated with both a start and an end between 2018 and 2025, the median window ran 28 days.
Averages plan nothing for one survey. A four-week window is a fair working assumption only until Richmond Magazine prints its own dates, and after that the printed dates decide everything, including the hour of the last reminder you send.
No nomination stage and no finalist cut in Richmond's 2026 survey
Readers of Richmond Magazine made their 2026 picks directly in one survey that stayed open through April 27, with no separate nomination stage in front of it. The magazine names no finalist stage and no finalist count, so a Richmond business has no shortlist to qualify for and no second round to survive.
That changes the work. In a two-stage contest, an owner spends the first weeks just getting onto a printed list, and only then asks for the final picks. In Richmond every pick lands in the same survey that settles the result. The whole effort sits inside one window, and a late start costs more than it would where a nomination round gives you a second chance to organize.
Two details deserve ten minutes before you ask anyone for support. First, the name: if regulars use a nickname and the sign says something longer, decide which one you will ask people to look for and repeat it everywhere. Second, the category. With 192 to choose from, a bakery that also serves lunch could plausibly fit more than one, and splitting customers across several categories thins the support in every one of them.
Two rules in Richmond Magazine's survey that disqualify a business
Two firm lines for businesses sit on Richmond Magazine's 2026 voting page. Any business offering discounts or anything of value in exchange for picks is disqualified automatically, and no business may fill out or submit survey forms for employees, customers or anyone else, whether or not those people agree.
The first rule is broader than it looks. Anything of value reaches well past the obvious coupon: a free pastry for showing a confirmation screen, a raffle entry for supporters, a happy-hour price for anyone who says they took part. Each of those trades something for a pick. I read the word automatic as no warning first, and I would plan on that reading.
The second rule closes the counter-tablet shortcut. A shop that hands customers a tablet at checkout and completes the survey for them, even with a smile and a yes, breaks it, because the magazine says consent does not rescue the practice. Hand over the link instead and let each person choose on their own phone.
One question the 2026 rules lines leave open is how often a single reader may respond. No per-day or per-email allowance appears among them, so confirm the allowance on the survey form itself, or ask the magazine, before you schedule a single reminder around it.
How a Richmond shop earns reader picks inside the rules
Asking customers for support is welcome in Richmond Magazine's survey: the 2026 voting page invites businesses to spread the word and ask customers and other fans to take part. A Richmond business earns Best of Richmond picks by asking people who already like it, plainly and often enough to be remembered, with nothing attached.
Your regulars are the whole game here. A reader survey with 192 categories favors the places people already hold an opinion about, and no message turns a stranger into a fan within a few weeks. Where the ask goes matters more than how clever it sounds, and the channels below cost nothing and stay inside both rules.
Example scenario (illustrative - not a client result): a neighborhood restaurant hears about the survey with a few weeks left. The owner picks one category, puts the closing hour on receipts and table cards, mentions the survey in the newsletter, and tells staff to remind and never reward. Nobody gets a free appetizer for a screenshot. The restaurant may place or may not, and that is the honest shape of it: the effort collects support that already exists, and nothing more.
- A line on receipts or takeout bags naming the category and the closing hour, which was April 27 at 11 p.m. in the 2026 edition.
- A word from staff at the register, as a reminder and nothing else, with no discount mentioned in the same breath.
- The business newsletter and its own social accounts, carrying the survey link and the exact category name.
- A table card or window sign, so customers can open the survey on their own phones while they wait.
- One last reminder a few days before the close, because most people mean to respond and then forget.
Paid promotion for a Richmond business: what an agency may do
Voting Now does not sell picks in the Best of Richmond reader poll. The agency sells promotion for businesses in reader contests and polls: paid ads, native PR, posts in partner groups and with bloggers, and its own social channels, all aimed at real people in the Richmond area who decide for themselves whether to take part.
Richmond Magazine's voting page asks businesses to spread the word, and the two rules it states concern rewards and forms filled in for others. Promotion that tells real people the survey exists, and leaves the choice to them, fits that invitation. Promotion that offers those people anything for their pick does not, whoever pays for it.
Promotion is priced the way advertisers price leads, with a quote agreed before anything runs. I'd skip us if your regulars are few or if only a win will do, because promotion reaches people and cannot hand a category to anyone. The editors compile and screen the results, and that step belongs to the magazine alone.
If you are unsure whether a Richmond entry is a fit, send us the survey link and your category for a free analysis before you spend anything.
Which Richmond reader poll are you in? Check the publisher
Best & Worst is one publisher's reader survey, with its own April 27 close in 2026 and its own two business rules. Any reader poll from another Richmond publication, the Richmond Times-Dispatch included, runs under that publisher's own rules, dates and categories, and Richmond Magazine's lines do not travel with it.
Owners mix these up more than you'd expect, especially when a customer forwards a link that says only 'vote for us'. Before you ask anyone, check whose name sits at the top of the form. Richmond Magazine's lines on rewards and on forms filled in for others bind its own survey, and another publisher's rules say nothing about this one.
One survey, one rulebook, one set of dates: keep each publisher's rules in a folder of its own.
| Stage | Rule on the voting page | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Before you ask anyone | The closing date and hour; the 2026 page listed April 27 at 11 p.m. and no start date. | Save the page with the date you read it and put the close on every message. |
| Choosing a category | Which of the 2026 edition's 192 categories matches the way customers describe you. | Commit to one category and one business name, then repeat both without variation. |
| Asking for support | Businesses may ask customers and other fans to take part in the survey. | Ask at the register, on receipts, in your newsletter and on your own social accounts. |
| Rewards and discounts | Discounts or anything of value offered for picks bring automatic disqualification. | Strip coupons, drawings and freebies from anything that mentions the survey. |
| Help at the counter | No forms filled out or submitted for staff, customers or anyone else, consent or not. | Hand over the link and let each person finish the survey on their own phone. |
| Repeat responses | How often one reader may respond; the 2026 rules lines do not state an allowance. | Ask the magazine, keep its reply, and schedule reminders only within that allowance. |
| When paid help is the wrong call | Any notice from the magazine that limits outside promotion of a business entry. | Skip paid promotion when regulars are few or when only a win will do. |
Step by step
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Save the magazine's voting page
Open Richmond Magazine's Best & Worst voting page, save a copy with the date you read it, and note the closing hour; the 2026 edition closed April 27 at 11 p.m.
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Commit to one category
Choose the single category, out of the 192 in the 2026 edition, where customers already think of you first, and use the same business name in every message you send.
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Brief staff on both rules
Tell everyone at the counter two things: no discount, freebie or drawing tied to the survey, and no completing forms for customers, even when a customer asks for help.
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Confirm the repeat allowance
Check the survey form for how often one reader may respond before you schedule any reminder; if the form is silent, ask the magazine directly and keep its reply on file.
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Send the last reminder early
Post the final reminder a few days before the close, not on the last evening, since an 11 p.m. cutoff tends to catch people who planned to do it after dinner.
Questions and answers
Can a Richmond business ask customers to vote for it?
Yes. Richmond Magazine's 2026 voting page invites businesses to spread the word and ask customers and other fans for support. The limits sit elsewhere: no discounts or anything of value for picks, and no forms filled in on anyone's behalf. Ask openly, and keep every ask free of rewards.
When did Richmond Magazine's best of 2026 voting close?
Richmond Magazine's 2026 Best & Worst voting closed on April 27 at 11 p.m., and the voting page gave no start date. In our tracking the program shows an edition in every year from 2018 through 2026, with the next one expected in 2027, so watch the magazine for the new dates.
Is the Richmond Times-Dispatch best of 2026 the same contest?
No. Richmond Magazine runs Best & Worst under its own rules, and a reader poll from the Richmond Times-Dispatch or any other publisher is a separate contest with separate dates. Check the publisher's name at the top of the form, and read that publisher's rules before asking anyone for support.
How do you win local business awards in Richmond?
Local business awards in Richmond, such as Richmond Magazine's reader survey, go to businesses that customers already think of when a category comes up. The 2026 survey had 192 categories and one reader round, so the work is asking regulars clearly and early, with no reward attached, and letting the editors compile the results.
Does a plan for Richmond Magazine's survey help get Best of Omaha?
Yes, in part. Asking real customers and keeping rewards out of the ask carries over to most reader polls, but Best of Omaha publishes its own rules, dates and limits, and none of Richmond Magazine's lines apply there. Read Omaha's rules first; a program with a nomination round needs an earlier start than Richmond's single survey.
Where does winning Best of Boston differ from Richmond's survey?
Winning Best of Boston starts with Best of Boston's own rules, which come from a different publisher with its own dates and limits. Richmond Magazine's 2026 lines on rewards and on forms filled in for others bind only Richmond's survey. What travels is the habit: read the rules first, ask real customers, and attach nothing to the ask.
How does getting nominated for Best of Las Vegas compare with Richmond?
Getting nominated for Best of Las Vegas depends on that program's own published nomination rules, while Richmond Magazine's 2026 survey had no separate nomination stage at all. In Richmond a reader's pick goes straight into the one survey that settles the result. Where a program does run nominations, those dates come first in your plan.
Sources
- richmondmagazine.com. richmondmagazine.com/best-of-richmond/best-and-worst/best-worst-2026/.
- richmondmagazine.com. richmondmagazine.com/best-of-richmond/best-and-worst/best-worst-2026-vote-now/.
- richmondmagazine.com. richmondmagazine.com/best-of-richmond/best-and-worst/best-worst-2026-vote-now/.
- richmondmagazine.com. richmondmagazine.com/best-of-richmond/best-and-worst/best-worst-2026/.
- richmondmagazine.com. richmondmagazine.com/best-of-richmond/best-and-worst/best-worst-2026-vote-now/.
Voting Now does not fill in Richmond Magazine's Best & Worst survey for anyone and never hands Richmond customers a discount, drawing or freebie in return for a pick, since the 2026 rules disqualify both. We do not run bots, fake accounts or bought contest votes, and no promotion of ours can promise a category among the 192. The magazine's editors compile and screen the results without us. Political or governmental votes are not work we accept, in Virginia or elsewhere.
A contest vote sits under two rulebooks, the platform's and the organizer's. Meta's Spam standard lists offering anything of monetary value in exchange for engagement as a covered behavior, and the Santa Barbara Independent says it will disqualify a business that offers voters incentives of any kind. Voting Now reads both rulebooks before it plans anything, and a clause that forbids outside promotion ends the job.
Contest platforms check votes as routine. Easypromos runs each vote through 11 security controls and does not count one that fails any of them, and Woobox says voting fraud is becoming more common as contests grow popular. Voting Now promotes to real people who choose for themselves, at the contest's own pace, and none of this is a method for getting past a check.
Under 16 CFR 465.8, buying fake indicators of social media influence for a commercial purpose can violate the FTC's rule, which is one reason Voting Now promotes to real people and does not bring in bought counts. The FTC's Endorsement Guides also require a paid creator to disclose the connection clearly. Whether outside promotion is lawful for a given contest is a question for a lawyer, and Voting Now takes no political or governmental votes.
No quote promises a win, a ranking or a vote count, because the organizer counts the votes and applies its own rules. The Santa Barbara Independent, for one, says it will disqualify a business that offers voters incentives of any kind. Nothing runs before the client approves a written quote.