For the first time, Leader Publications will hold a Best of Jefferson County contest this spring.
The 2025 Best of Jefferson County is a newly created contest that allows residents to vote for their favorite local businesses, organizations and attractions. It will be the biggest contest of its kind in Jefferson County, with 14 groups and more than 110 categories.
Groups include Arts and Entertainment; Auto; Beer, Wine and Liquor; Body and Soul; Destinations; Dining Out; Finance; Food; Health; Home; Kids and Education; Pets; Services; and Shopping.
Within each group are multiple categories. For example, within the Food group, categories include Best Bakery, Best Burger, Best Pizza, Best Catering Company and Best Frozen Treat.
The Jefferson County Growth Association is the title sponsor for the event.
Katelyn Mary Skaggs, the Leader’s digital marketing manager, said the Leader is excited about the new contest.
“We are thrilled to be doing the Best of Jefferson County contest this year for the first time ever. The concept is basically a reader’s choice. Our readers and community members will be able to go to our voting platform online and vote for businesses they feel worthy of awards.”
Skaggs said the reason for the contest is to highlight all the wonderful locally owned and operated businesses in Jefferson County.
“We have everything from best bank to best veterinary clinic, best burger, best hair salon, best golf course, best law firm and best antique store. The list goes on and on,” she said.
Skaggs said the nomination round will open on April 10 and close on April 24. All nominated businesses will move on to the voting round, which will take place from May 15 to May 29. Leader readers will have the opportunity to vote once per category per day for their favorite businesses.
Winners and finalists will be announced in the June 26 edition of the Leader. Winners will be those who receive the most votes in their category. Finalists are those who receive the second- and third-most votes in their category.
All nominations and voting will take place online at myleaderpaper.com/bestof, which will go live on April 10. In the meantime, Skaggs encourages readers to bookmark the website and to start thinking about their favorite Jefferson County businesses that they’d like to nominate.
“We are very excited for this. It’s something that we have talked about doing for years. It is so valuable to have local businesses get a moment in the sun for being the best.”