How to Win Best of Pittsburgh: Nominations, Finals and Voting
Winning Best of Pittsburgh voting takes two rounds: enough nominations under your exact name to reach Pittsburgh Magazine's finalist list, then steady hourly picks from real customers. The magazine's editors decide who advances, starting with the most-nominated names. Each reader may nominate, and later pick, once per hour per category, and flagrant stuffing of the count can get a finalist removed. Nobody, us included, can promise you the title.
By Victor Brown · Last updated
Who runs Best of the 'Burgh, and who decides the finalists?
Best of the 'Burgh is Pittsburgh Magazine's readers' poll, run on the magazine's own website in two rounds: an open nomination round, then a final round among finalists. Readers do the nominating and the final picking, but Pittsburgh Magazine's editorial team decides which nominees cross from the first round into the second.
That middle step is the one most owners miss. The nomination count is not a public leaderboard that lifts the top names into the final automatically. According to the magazine, the businesses with the most nominations are the first ones its editors look at. Being looked at first is not the same as being listed. How the editors weigh anything beyond the raw count is their call, and no business gets a say in it.
The scale is real, too. According to Pittsburgh Magazine, readers cast more than 230,000 picks in the 2026 edition across its categories. A single category can draw far more interest than one shop's regulars, and an editor looking at a pool that large has plenty of normal patterns to compare an odd one against.
According to our contest tracking, Best of the 'Burgh appears in 9 distinct years between 2018 and 2026, and the magazine accounts for 10 curated rows among our Pennsylvania records (snapshot of 2026-10-02). A poll with that kind of run is not going anywhere, which is a good reason to treat it as a yearly habit rather than a one-off scramble.
When do Pittsburgh Magazine's nomination and final rounds open and close?
Pittsburgh Magazine opened 2026 nominations at 12:00 a.m. on Monday, March 2 and closed them at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 22, a 21-day window. The final round ran from 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 1 to 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 20, so it lasted 20 days.
Between the two rounds sit nine quiet days, March 23 to March 31. That gap is when the finalist cut has to happen, and nothing a business posts during it changes a nomination count that is already closed. Use those days to get the final-round message ready, not to send it.
Best of the 'Burgh also runs on an earlier clock than most Pennsylvania polls. According to our contest tracking (snapshot of 2026-10-02), the most common opening month among 252 recurring Pennsylvania programs with a recorded opening month is September, at 17% of them, and the most common closing month is May, at 20%. According to the same tracking, across 218 Pennsylvania voting and nomination promotions dated with both a start and an end between 2016 and 2026, the median window was 28 days.
Pittsburgh's two rounds, at 21 and 20 days, are each shorter than that median. Together they span about seven weeks from the first nomination to the last pick. Our tracking expects the next edition in 2027. The 2026 dates are the closest guide there is, but for 2027 they are an assumption, not a schedule: pencil in early March and early April, then swap in the real dates when the magazine posts them.
How a Pittsburgh business gets nominated and survives the finalist cut
Getting into the Best of the 'Burgh final round starts in March: Pittsburgh Magazine lets each reader nominate once per hour in each category, and its editors look first at the most-nominated names. A business that waits for the April round to start asking has already skipped the step that decides whether it appears at all.
Pick one name and use it everywhere. Readers type nominations, and if half your customers write the legal name and half write the nickname on the awning, the count is split before anyone at the magazine sees it. Whether editors merge spellings is not something the magazine's steps describe, so don't bet on it.
Choose the category on purpose as well. A bakery that also pours coffee might fit two lists, and the hourly limit applies per category, so a customer could nominate in both. I'd still ask for one. A request with one name and one category is simple enough that people actually finish it.
Pittsburgh Magazine itself hands nominees promotional images and tells them to use those images to collect nominations. That is about as plain a permission to ask as an organizer gives. Every nomination ask should carry these four things:
- The business name exactly as you want it to appear on the finalist list
- The single category you are asking for
- The closing time, 11:59 p.m. on the last nomination day
- The magazine's own promotional image instead of a homemade badge, so customers can see it is the official poll
Hourly limits and the stuffing clause in Pittsburgh's readers' poll
Pittsburgh Magazine's Best of the 'Burgh rules allow one nomination and one final-round pick per hour per category, and the magazine keeps the right to remove a finalist when there is flagrant evidence of stuffing the count. Those two lines set the frequency rules: a generous cap, plus an editorial veto over abuse.
An hourly cap means one reader could, on paper, pick the same business 24 times a day. Almost nobody does that, and the stuffing clause is the reason not to push anyone toward it. A count that leaps overnight, or arrives in a tidy hourly rhythm from a handful of people, is exactly the kind of record an editor with a removal power will look at twice.
The 2026 steps Pittsburgh Magazine published cover the dates, the hourly limits and stuffing. They do not spell out a rule on rewards for people who take part, discounts tied to a pick, or what advertising in the magazine means for a result. Treat that silence as an open question rather than a permission, and put it to the magazine in writing before you offer customers anything.
My own advice is shorter. Keep rewards out of it. A free cookie for anyone who shows a confirmation screen turns an opinion into a trade, and a finalist removed for stuffing has no second round to recover in.
What actually moves a Pittsburgh business up the readers' count
Real customers asked at the right moment move a Best of the 'Burgh entry, and Pittsburgh Magazine says as much: it invites nominees to spread the word to friends, family and fans. The practical work is timing those asks to the two windows, March for nominations and April for the final round.
The asks that work happen where customers already are. At the register. On the receipt. In the newsletter they opened on purpose, and on the account they follow for your daily specials. A card by the door with the category and the closing date does more than a tenth reminder on a personal profile.
Pace is the other half. Twenty days in April is room for a few well-spaced reminders without wearing anyone out: one when the round opens, another at the midpoint, a last one a day or two before the close. Make each one complete, with name, category, link and closing time, because the hourly limit makes repeat picks possible but it does not make repeat pestering welcome.
Example scenario (illustrative - not a client result): a neighborhood restaurant decides in February to go for Best of the 'Burgh. It prints the magazine's nomination artwork on a table card for the March window, asks regulars for one category under one name, checks the finalist list when the final round opens, and only then switches the table card to the April round. Nothing in that plan needs a budget. It needs a calendar.
Can an agency help a Best of the 'Burgh finalist, and how far?
Voting Now can help a Best of the 'Burgh entry only by bringing real Pittsburgh-area people to Pittsburgh Magazine's own poll page through advertising: paid ads, native PR, partner groups and bloggers, and our own social accounts. Voting Now does not sell votes, has no hand in the editors' finalist cut, and cannot promise anyone the title.
Promotion for a poll entry is priced the way advertisers price leads, with a quote agreed before anything runs. It earns its keep in the nomination window, because a business with a small regular crowd may need new eyes just to clear the editorial cut. In the April round, outside reach helps only if the people it reaches would honestly pick you.
We read the rules before we quote. If the poll's rules for a given year forbid paid promotion, we decline the job, and if a clause is unclear we ask you to get Pittsburgh Magazine's answer in writing first. Purchases of picks for this poll are something we turn down outright, since bought numbers are exactly what the stuffing clause exists to catch.
Send us the Best of the 'Burgh category and your business name for a free analysis on WhatsApp.
| Stage | Rule to confirm first | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Magazine Best of 2026 nominations | Opened 12:00 a.m. Monday, March 2, and closed 11:59 p.m. Sunday, March 22. | Start asking customers on the first morning, not in the last week. |
| Nomination limit per reader | One nomination per hour in each category. | Ask for one category so each customer's effort lands in one place. |
| Editorial finalist cut | Editors consider the most-nominated businesses first for the final round. | Treat the March count as the round that decides whether you get listed. |
| Pittsburgh Best of 2026 voting round | Opened 12:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 1, and closed 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 20. | Check your listing on opening day, then space reminders across the window. |
| Final-round limit per reader | One pick per hour in each category. | Ask many customers for a pick each; a few people clicking all day looks odd. |
| Stuffing review | The magazine may remove a finalist for flagrant evidence of stuffing. | Keep rewards, bulk sign-ups and automated clicks out of the plan entirely. |
| Promotional artwork | The magazine supplies promotional images for gathering nominations. | Put its images in every ask so customers recognize the official poll. |
| When outside promotion is the wrong call | A year's poll rules that forbid paid promotion, or an entry with few local customers. | Skip paid reach for this poll and rely on regulars, or sit the year out. |
Step by step
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Save the magazine's rules page
When Pittsburgh Magazine posts the next how-it-works page, save a dated copy. The 2026 version set the windows, the hourly limits and the stuffing clause, and any of them can change between editions.
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Settle the exact listing name
Decide the one spelling of your business name and the one category you want, and put both in every message, sign and post so customer nominations are not split across versions.
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Collect nominations in March
Ask customers to nominate you from the first morning of the window to its last evening, which in 2026 ran from March 2 to 11:59 p.m. on March 22, with the magazine's image attached.
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Check the April finalist list
When the final round opens, confirm your business appears under the right name and category. If it does not, the editorial cut went the other way, and no amount of April asking changes that.
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Space reminders across twenty days
Ask in person and in channels customers already read, a few times across the final round, and send the last reminder a day early so it does not land after 11:59 p.m. on closing night.
Questions and answers
How do Pittsburgh owners win local business awards like Best of the 'Burgh?
Pittsburgh owners win Best of the 'Burgh by clearing two hurdles in turn: enough March nominations to make Pittsburgh Magazine's editorial cut, then enough April picks from real customers. Both rounds cap each reader at once per hour per category, so the edge comes from how many different people you reach, not from how often a few loyal ones click.
Who picks the Best of Pittsburgh awards winners?
Readers pick the Best of the 'Burgh winners in the final round, while Pittsburgh Magazine's editors decide who reaches that round. The editors look first at the most-nominated businesses, and the magazine can remove a finalist if it finds flagrant evidence of stuffing. The public count decides the title, inside limits the editors keep for themselves.
How many votes did Pittsburgh Magazine's Best of the 'Burgh 2026 draw?
According to Pittsburgh Magazine, readers cast more than 230,000 votes in Best of the 'Burgh 2026. The figure covers picks, not separate people, and an hourly limit lets one reader account for many of them. For a single business, the takeaway is that a category's final count is shaped by whole neighborhoods, not one shop's mailing list.
Is Pittsburgh City Paper's Best of 2026 the same contest?
No. Best of the 'Burgh is Pittsburgh Magazine's readers' poll, and its March and April dates, hourly limits and stuffing clause belong to that magazine alone. A Pittsburgh City Paper reader poll would be a separate program with its own dates and rules, so read its rules page before asking customers for anything.
How would you get Best of Omaha using the Pittsburgh steps?
Getting Best of Omaha with the Pittsburgh steps starts with that program's own rules, because Pittsburgh Magazine's hourly cap and editorial cut do not carry over to another publication. The habits travel well: one exact name, one category, asks timed to the nomination window, reminders spaced across the final round, and no rewards offered for picks.
What would you change to win Best of Boston instead?
To win Best of Boston you would swap in that program's own organizer, nomination method, per-reader limit and calendar. Pittsburgh Magazine's hourly limit and editorial finalist cut are specific to Best of the 'Burgh. The order of work stays the same: save the rules, fix the listing name, ask during nominations, then pace the final round.
Can you get nominated for Best of Las Vegas the Pittsburgh way?
Yes. Getting nominated for Best of Las Vegas rests on the same habits that work in Pittsburgh: one exact name, one category and asks made while nominations are open. The thresholds, dates and per-reader limits there come from the Las Vegas organizer's rules, so copy those down before you ask a single customer.
Sources
- pittsburghmagazine.com. pittsburghmagazine.com/how-our-best-of-the-burgh-readers-poll-works/.
- pittsburghmagazine.com. pittsburghmagazine.com/how-our-best-of-the-burgh-readers-poll-works/.
- pittsburghmagazine.com. pittsburghmagazine.com/how-our-best-of-the-burgh-readers-poll-works/.
- pittsburghmagazine.com. pittsburghmagazine.com/how-our-best-of-the-burgh-readers-poll-works/.
- pittsburghmagazine.com. pittsburghmagazine.com/best-of-pittsburgh/.
Voting Now does not sell picks in the Best of the 'Burgh poll, does not offer rewards to readers on a client's behalf, and never uses bots, bulk email sign-ups or fake accounts against Pittsburgh Magazine's hourly counter. We cannot sway the magazine's editors, their finalist cut or their power to remove a finalist for stuffing, and we do not promise a title or a placing in any category. Political or governmental votes are outside our work entirely, in Pittsburgh and everywhere else.
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