On a brisk, minus degree feel-like day as we’re having, the options on activities could be limited. While there are still plenty of things to do and see in Salem, if you don’t want to go outside, but still wish to be in a “Salem state of mind” then may we suggest voting for 2016 BONS Readers’ Choice Awards (which began February 1st and ends May 1st).
Winners will be listed in the annual BONS issue of Northshore Magazine (to be distributed in July), alongside Editors’ Choice for the same categories. But, note, online voting is for Readers’ Choice only; Northshore editors and the BONS committee select Editors’ Choice BONS winners separately from the Readers’ Choice winners.
The top vote recipients in the survey and eligible write-in nominees from 2015 voting are used to populate the drop-down menus. This is your opportunity to share with others why you frequent – may we say “haunt” – restaurants as well as general and specialty small businesses in Salem.
If you’ve never voted or haven’t recently, a few things of which to be aware:
- Previously, regional or national chains were allowed to qualify as nominees. But beginning in 2015, that privilege was restricted to only local organizations and locally owned franchises
- Traded votes for services or discounts is cause for disqualification. In other words, retailers are not allowed to produce a marketing mailer, website ad, social media post, etc., that offers a discount or free service with proof of a vote.
- Businesses with multiple locations are to be recognized by the specific location. For example, if a business has locations in Salem, Peabody, and Andover, each location will have its own nomination.
Votes are tallied by the amount of unique votes each business receives. You are not allowed to vote for the same subcategory more than once; to ensure that all votes for each category are unique, their system requires a verifiable email address for each vote.
This year, more than a dozen new sub-categories, including Cookies and Distillery, and an entirely new category: Mingle have been added. Check them out.
