Every year, we ask our opinionated readers to tell us about their favorite people, places and things in the Springfield area. Over the decades we've been doing this, we've continued to tweak both the process and the results issue to try to keep things fresh and interesting.
While anything food-related typically dominates the voting, the most popular categories this year included more cultural and civic topics than usual. However, more readers cast votes for their favorite place to buy doughnuts than anything else, and of course horseshoes and burgers are perpetual favorites. There's a reason 217 Burger Week is the only food week we offer twice a year, and it lasts for 10 days instead of seven.
Wondering how all this works? Here are answers to the most common questions we hear:
Q. Are the results real? Don't you just pick your advertisers to win?
A. The Best of Springfield results are based on what our readers chose as the best, which is not always the same as what our staff would prefer. Just ask the advertising department, there are many winners who have never spent a dime with us and others who frequently advertise but failed to win their category. While advertising helps remind people to vote for you, it certainly doesn't guarantee the outcome.
Q. Why did national companies or chain stores win some of the categories? If you're a locally owned business, shouldn't you support other locally owned businesses?
A. See previous answer. We encourage our readers to vote (and shop) local, but ultimately, we don't control the votes.
Q. Why wasn't ______ category included?
A. There are already more than 200 categories, so from a logistical perspective we have to consider the attention span of both the voters and readers. However, we do add and subtract categories based on reader feedback and current events. This year, we significantly expanded the pet category since so many of our readers love pampering their furry family members. We also created new categories for comedic group (in addition to comedian), handyman (in addition to home builder) and local market (in addition to grocery store) so that smaller businesses and individuals weren't in the same category as much larger companies and groups.
Keep in mind that there needs to be at least four or five contenders in a category to make it competitive, so if you're asking for "Best battery store," "Best place to buy a musical instrument," or "Best clock shop" (all actual requests we've had), we're taking that into consideration. If you think of a great category we've missed, email our associate publisher, James Bengfort, at jbengfort@illinoistimes.com.
Q. Why wasn't _______ one of the options when I voted?
A. We hold an initial nomination round beginning in mid-August. The top five vote-getters in each category move on to the final voting. So if you want to lobby for a particular person or business to win, the time to start is in the nomination round.
Q. Why don't all of the winners have a write up this year?
A. We used to publish a short blurb on each of the top picks. However, we do have many repeat winners, and it can be hard to find something different to say each year. Starting in 2019, we switched to a format with longer (but fewer) profiles. We now try to highlight new winners and categories to make it more interesting and informative for the reader.
We welcome comments on this, or anything else in our publication, which can be sent to letters@illinoistimes.com.
– Michelle Ownbey, publisher
CATEGORIES WITH THE MOST VOTES:
1. Doughnuts
2. Place to see a play or musical outdoor
3. Abraham Lincoln historic site
4. Build your own bowl
5. Nail salon
6. Horseshoe
7. Burger
8. Nonprofit
9. Festival
10. Tourist spot in Springfield not related to Abraham Lincoln
