The Nomination Round is the first phase of Best Of 2026. It took place February 1-28. This round determines which nominees advance to the Voting Round in May.

The Voting Round takes place from May 1-31, 2026.

During the nomination period, readers and supporters nominate their favorite people, places, businesses and organizations in various categories. Participants are invited to nominate once per category, from February 1-28. Eligibility is restricted to locally owned businesses and individuals.

The top 5 nominees (if applicable) in each category advance as finalists to the Voting Round in May.

During this round, readers and supporters are invited to vote once per category to maintain the integrity of the readers’ poll and prevent ballot stuffing.

The Voting Round ballot can be found on our website:

https://CoastalStyleMag.com/Best-Of-2026

One of the issues we have each year is contacting every business that is nominated. With over 240 nomination categories in 5 counties, thousands of businesses are nominated. This information will allow us to contact those who advance to the Voting Round.

Absolutely not. Registration is free and the information you provide is only for our internal use. We require registration to help us contact businesses to notify them if they are nominated and if they have won.

There are multiple options to promote your business on the Voting Round ballot. Please visit our Promotional Opportunities page for more information.

To promote voting for your business across social media and beyond, please visit our Toolkit for additional resources.

We have created a number of promotional graphics to help you promote votes from your supporters. The Best Of 2026 nomination icons can be found in our Toolkit.

Please note that these graphics cannot be manipulated in any way. Doing so will result in your disqualification from Best Of 2026.

Our publishers reserve the right to eliminate nominations that don’t fully represent the category or the standards of Coastal Style. We also will eliminate businesses that attempt to fraudulently cast nominations or votes. Anyone found to have altered Best Of 2026 graphics, icons or logos will be disqualified. Finally, if a person/business fails to respond to our attempts to contact them for further information concerning their nomination, they may be disqualified.

Once all the votes from Best Of 2026 have been audited and verified, our team will begin contacting winners in early July. This process usually begins in early July.

Please reserve Friday, October 23, 2026 on your calendar! Venue and hotel information will be announced July 1!