Pelzer

In Best of the Best, the Times-Republican’s annual readers’ choice awards, voters have the last word.

For years, Marshalltown residents have looked forward to voting in the Best of the Best contest to support their favorite local businesses and businesspeople. It’s the biggest contest of its kind in our area, and we’re proud to host it as a way to recognize the places and people that make Marshall County special.

This year we are making the contest bigger and better than ever to provide even more visibility to our area restaurants, businesses and organizations.

Some of the changes we’re making this year include:

• Expanded voting: This year we are encouraging all businesses in Marshall County to participate. While our contest has traditionally been very Marshalltown-focused, we are expanding voting to include more of our readership and more area favorites.

• Nomination round: The contest starts Monday, April 25, with a nomination round online, where readers can propose businesses, organizations and individuals for all of the categories. This keeps the contest fresh as new businesses and organizations come to the area and as existing ones change and grow. Visit timesrepublican.com/best to make your nominations.

• Voting round: The voting round will be held exclusively online this year so that more people in Marshall County can have their say by casting their votes. What’s more, people may vote once per day in any or all categories! This round will determine the Best of the Best winner and two finalists in each category.

• More transparency: We know the Best of the Best contest is important to the local businesses who compete. So, we are taking steps this year to increase transparency in our rules and decisions about which nominees are eligible for which categories. For a full list of contest rules, please visit https://www.timesrepublican.com/best-faq.

— Abigail Pelzer, Publisher