Should newspapers hold a readers’ choice contest?

Initially, we planned to keep the winners and finalists a secret until our thank-you section was published. Midway through the campaign, we realized that wouldn’t happen. Our community was too invested. Once we told businesses they won, they wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret. We announced the winners and finalists online just days after the voting ended, and then started selling the print packages for the thank-you section. It’s pretty rewarding to hear a sales rep call a client, tell that business owner that they were a winner and hear through the phone line literal screams of excitement. It happened time and time again.”

Peggy Scott, 2025 MPA President

Pardon me. Leader Publications is very late to this game, but I wanted to share how exciting our first Best of Jefferson County contest has been and to encourage every media company who isn’t already doing some type of readers’ choice contest to consider starting one. We liked it so much, we might do two.
For years, publishers across the country were shocked that the Leader didn’t do a readers’ choice contest. Their advice was don’t wait. Start now!
Sometimes we are slow to listen. Leader World Headquarters sits in the St. Louis Metro area where two or three other media companies have been running readers’ choice campaigns for years. We asked ourselves if there was room in the market for another contest. We gambled that the answer was yes. We were correct.
The concept isn’t new, and there are lots of models that work well. Here’s what we did. We got a vendor/partner with an established online platform to administer the contest. In my opinion, this isn’t a project you want to do alone. You can, but it’d be tough.
We asked our readers to nominate their favorite local businesses in just over 130 categories. I know. That’s a lot of categories, but readers and businesses asked for even more. Once the list of nominees closed, we asked readers to vote for their favorites. We announced our winners and finalists for each category and then offered winners a chance to say thank you.
We had three print special sections to support the three phases of the contest – nominations, voting and thanks. We sold packages that included print, digital and social media advertising. We gave away certificates for the winners and finalists. We sold plaques and window clings.
We recognized in the first phase of the campaign that our sales team couldn’t physically reach out to everyone to solicit advertising. We set up a self-serve portal online so nominees and winners could buy directly at any hour of the day or night.
Each phase of the contest was intentionally short. Our plan was to keep interest and enthusiasm high. We hoped the contest would provide a nice revenue boost to the bottom line. It did. However, our Best of Jefferson County contest did much more. I was shocked and humbled at the responses we got for holding the contest.
We asked the Jefferson County Growth Association, basically a regional chamber-style organization, to sponsor the contest. They agreed long before we knew it would work. They share with us the success of this new community project.
Local businesses claimed their places in our business landscape. They made use of print ads, digital ads and social media to explain what makes them the best and to ask their customers and clients to vote for them. They also offered their own contests and used their own social media to ask for support. In my opinion, local businesses never looked better.
Business owners reached out to support each other.
Readers shared testimonials about why they voted for their favorites. Readers and nominated businesses were excited to participate and ecstatic when they won.
It was fun. The contest generated a buzz in our community. Throughout the campaign, friends and colleagues messaged me to tell me how enthusiastic everyone was.
Initially, we planned to keep the winners and finalists a secret until our thank-you section was published. Midway through the campaign, we realized that wouldn’t happen. Our community was too invested. Once we told businesses they won, they wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret. We announced the winners and finalists online just days after the voting ended, and then started selling the print packages for the thank-you section.
It’s pretty rewarding to hear a sales rep call a client, tell that business owner that they were a winner and hear through the phone line literal screams of excitement. It happened time and time again.
I like to think the Leader is relevant in our community, but this campaign elevated our influence and increased awareness of the power of local news.
A couple of caveats. We really didn’t influence the nominations nor the voting. Our staff was allowed to nominate businesses and encouraged to vote daily, like all other readers.
Winners won based on votes, not on advertising. We had more than 100,000 votes cast. Some businesses bought advertising and didn’t win. This led to tough conversations. But our sales pros are offering help with marketing campaigns for the rest of this year so they are ready for next year’s contest.
We will hold a Best of Jefferson County contest again next year. We have learned a lot and will make changes so the campaign runs smoother. We also are looking at a second market where a Best-Of campaign should work. We know the community will love it. The real question is do we have time to sell that many new ads?
If you want more details on how we ran the campaign, visit us and our partners at RevFluent, during the Missouri Press Association’s 159th Annual Convention and Trade Show, Sept. 11-13, in Wildwood. Registration details and a tentative agenda are available online at www.mopress.com/convention/.