How to Win Best of Boston: Nominations, Finals and Voting
You win Best of Boston by earning a pick from Boston Magazine's staffers; Best of Boston voting belongs to the separate readers' poll. Nominate once through the magazine's online form under your exact business name, since self-nominations are accepted. In the poll, follow that year's limit: one vote every 24 hours in 2018, no per-person cap through May 30 in 2022. Advertising in the magazine buys no preference in the awards, and nobody can promise a place among the honorees.
By Victor Brown · Last updated
Who picks Best of Boston, the editors or the readers?
Boston Magazine runs two tracks under one name. Staffers pick the Best of Boston honorees after a year of researching the city, and a separate readers' poll lets the public choose winners in the categories that year's poll page lists. The 2026 honorees are published, and the dining section alone runs past 80 categories.
The split decides where effort pays. A restaurant that fills the readers' poll with support has done nothing for the staff list, because the magazine describes the staff pick as research, not a count. And a shop that never asks anyone for a click can still be named by the editors if their year of looking lands on it.
I'd settle which prize you are after before lifting a finger. The editors' list is earned slowly, by being good at one thing for long enough that people who study the city notice. The readers' poll is earned in weeks, by asking customers in the right category inside the right dates. Two jobs. Two calendars.
When do Best of Boston nominations and the readers' poll open and close?
Boston Magazine's 2022 readers' poll ran through May 30, and its page printed neither a start date nor a closing hour. In our tracking, across 6 dated Boston Magazine listings in the 2026-10-02 snapshot, the most common opening month is June and the most common closing month is May, each in 2 of 6.
In our tracking, Boston Magazine Best Of shows an edition in 9 distinct years between 2018 and 2026. The wider Massachusetts picture, from the same snapshot, is 359 recurring programs with a usual opening month: September leads with 53, and March leads the closing months with 45.
Windows are short. Among 48 Massachusetts voting and nomination promotions on record with both a start and an end date between 2016 and 2026, the median ran 27.5 days. Treat that as a planning figure and nothing more: the magazine sets its own dates each year, and the poll page is the only clock that counts. When it appears, I'd write down four things before telling a single customer:
- The closing date exactly as printed, plus any hour or time zone
- The per-person limit, copied word for word
- The full category list, so you can pick one
- Whether the page names finalists or a second round
Nominating your own business takes one form and one exact name
Boston Magazine collects Best of Boston nominations through an online form on its site, and its About page says a business may nominate itself or any other business. Use the exact name on your sign, your menu and your listings, so anyone at the magazine searching for it finds one business rather than three spellings.
Finals are the murky part. The About page gives no finalist count and describes no shortlist stage for the staff picks. If a year's readers' poll announces finalists, its page will say so, and that is the moment to plan a second round of asking. Until a page names one, I wouldn't plan around a finalist cut.
A self-nomination is allowed, so you never need to wait for a customer to think of you. Whether extra nominations from customers carry weight is something the magazine does not explain where it describes the awards, so I wouldn't organize a drive for them. One accurate form, filed early in the nomination window, does the job the form exists for.
Which Best of Boston readers' poll rules changed between 2018 and 2022?
Boston Magazine's 2018 readers' poll allowed one vote every 24 hours, while its 2022 poll set no per-person cap and ran through May 30. The magazine chooses the limit each year, so the rule that applies is the one printed on that year's poll page, not the one a regular remembers.
The 2018 rule makes support a daily habit: one click a day per reader, and the useful message is a short reminder, never a plea. The 2022 rule removed the cap, so the count favored steady supporters over one-time visitors. Neither year tells you what the next poll will allow, and a habit carried over from the wrong year is how good intentions break a rule.
Paid placement is the one question the magazine answers head-on: advertisers get no preference in the awards, and businesses that skip ads lose nothing. Incentives are another matter. Neither the 2018 nor the 2022 limit mentions rewards, so ask the magazine before offering anything. I wouldn't hand out a discount for a poll click even if the answer is silence, because a reward turns a customer's opinion into a trade and the organizer still decides what it counts.
What earns a Boston restaurant or shop real readers' poll support?
A Boston business earns readers' poll support from customers who already like it, asked once, in one category, before the closing date. The 2025 Best of Boston poll ran across 30 categories, so a request that names the exact category and the exact business name saves every customer a search through the list.
Put the category and your name where regulars already look: the receipt, the table card, the email list you already send. On Instagram, one story with the poll link and the category name does more than a week of posts asking for 'support' without saying where to click. Staff can mention it once at the counter. More than once starts to feel like a toll.
Example scenario (illustrative - not a client result): a neighborhood restaurant files its self-nomination when the form opens, then goes back to cooking. When the readers' poll page appears, the owner copies the limit, picks one category and asks regulars at the table and in the newsletter. In a capped year the ask becomes a short reminder on a few fixed days; in an uncapped year it stays one clear request, because pestering costs more goodwill than it earns.
Where Voting Now fits, and where the editors stay out of reach
Voting Now does not sell Best of Boston poll votes and cannot reach the staff picks. The agency sells promotion for the readers' poll: paid ads, native PR, creators and blogger groups, and its own social channels, aimed at real people in the Boston area, priced the way advertisers price leads.
Before anything runs, we read that year's poll page with you: the limit, the closing date, the category. If the page or the magazine rules out outside promotion, we decline the job. If it allows it, the quote is agreed before a single ad goes out, and nobody here will promise you a place among the poll's winners. No bots, no fake accounts, no scripts.
I'd skip promotion entirely if the editors' pick is what you want. By the magazine's own account, advertising in its pages buys no preference in the awards, and an ad aimed at readers will not move a staff researcher either. Send us the poll link on WhatsApp for a free analysis if the readers' poll is the prize.
| Stage | Magazine's rule to check | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Online nomination form | Readers nominate through a form on the magazine's site, and businesses may nominate themselves. | File once, under the exact name on your sign and listings. |
| Staff pick of honorees | Staffers research the city for a year; the About page gives no finalist count. | Keep the business consistent; the magazine describes no separate pitch to editors. |
| Advertising in the magazine | Advertisers get no preference in the awards, and non-advertisers lose nothing. | Advertise for customers if you like, not as a route into the awards. |
| Readers' poll per-person limit | One vote every 24 hours in 2018; no per-person cap through May 30 in 2022. | Copy the year's limit from the poll page before asking anyone. |
| Readers' poll categories | 30 categories in the 2025 poll; over 80 in the 2026 dining section alone. | Choose the single category customers already praise you for. |
| Closing date and hour | The 2022 poll ran through May 30; no start date or hour was printed. | Set your last ask for the evening before the closing date. |
| When promotion is the wrong call | Staff picks rest on research, so no public click reaches them. | Skip paid promotion when only the editors' award will do. |
Step by step
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Read the About page first
Boston Magazine's About Best of Boston page explains that staffers pick the winners and that advertisers gain no edge. Read it before any outreach, because it tells you which half of the awards outreach can touch.
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File the nomination form once
Use the magazine's online nomination form with the name exactly as it appears on your sign and listings. Self-nomination is allowed, so file it yourself early in the window instead of hoping a customer will.
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Copy that year's poll limit
Open the readers' poll page the day it appears and copy its per-person limit and closing date into one note. The limit differed between 2018 and 2022, so last year's habit is no guide.
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Ask for one category only
Pick the single category customers already praise you for and ask for that one by name. Spreading requests across several categories thins every count and confuses the people doing you a favor.
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End your asks a day early
Set your own cutoff the evening before the printed closing date. The 2022 page named May 30 with no hour, so a last-minute message risks reaching customers after the poll has closed.
Questions and answers
How to win Best of Boston?
Winning Best of Boston means earning a pick from Boston Magazine's staffers, whose year of research produces the honorees list. Nominate your business once through the online form under its exact name, then keep running the business they would want to find. The readers' poll is a second, separate prize, won with customers who already like you, inside that year's limit and before its closing date.
What time does voting end for Best of Boston?
Boston Magazine's readers' poll pages give a closing date rather than an hour; the 2022 poll ran through May 30 with no time printed. Without a printed hour, treat the evening before the closing date as your last ask. In our tracking, May is also the most common closing month across the organizer's 6 dated listings, at 2 of 6.
How can a shop win local business awards in Boston?
A Boston shop wins local business awards such as Best of Boston by being nominated under its exact name and being good enough for the magazine's staffers to pick it. Ads in the magazine earn no edge in the awards, by its own account. For the readers' poll, the work is narrower: one category, existing customers, the year's limit.
How do businesses get Best of Omaha?
Best of Omaha is a separate program run by a different publisher, under rules of its own. The Boston method still transfers: find that program's nomination form, learn whether staff or readers decide each title, and copy the per-person limit and closing date from its own poll page before asking anyone. Boston Magazine's 2018 and 2022 limits say nothing about Omaha's.
Can a business nominate itself for Best of Boston?
Yes. Boston Magazine's About Best of Boston FAQ says a business can nominate itself or any other business through the nomination form. The same page gives no count of nominations a business needs and no finalist count, so one accurate form under the exact business name covers the step. Extra forms from customers do no harm, though the magazine does not say they move the staff.
Has Boston Magazine published Best of Boston 2026?
Yes. Boston Magazine has published its 2026 Best of Boston honorees, led by a dining section of more than 80 categories. Boston Magazine, not the Boston Globe, runs Best of Boston, so a Globe list is a different publisher's feature with its own rules. In our tracking, the next edition of Boston Magazine Best Of is expected in 2027.
Sources
- bostonmagazine.com. bostonmagazine.com/about-best-of-boston/.
- bostonmagazine.com. bostonmagazine.com/about-best-of-boston/.
- bostonmagazine.com. bostonmagazine.com/best-of-boston-readers-poll/.
- bostonmagazine.com. bostonmagazine.com/about-best-of-boston/.
- bostonmagazine.com. bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/best-of-boston-readers-poll-new/.
Voting Now cannot touch the staff side of Best of Boston: no message to the magazine's editors, no pitch dressed up as a nomination, no promise of a place among the honorees. Readers' poll promotion runs only inside the per-person limit that year's page prints, and never with bots, scripts or fake accounts. We decline political or governmental votes, and any poll whose page or organizer rules out outside promotion.
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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.