ELKINS — Starting Saturday, Inter-Mountain readers will have the chance to once again choose the “Best of the Best” in The Inter-Mountain People’s Choice Contest.

This year’s theme for the contest is “Dancing with the Stars.”

The annual contest generates tremendous excitement among customers, businesses and staff members as they wonder who will be recognized and voted the best in the area.

Readers have the last word in The Inter-Mountain’s People’s Choice Contest. We’re proud to host it as a way to recognize the places and people that make this region so special.

Nominations can be made from Jan. 17-29 on The Inter-Mountain web site, at www.theintermountain.com. The directions-to link will be at the bottom of the home page.

After the nomination process, I-M readers can vote for the winners March 7-14 at www.theintermountain.com. The link will be available at the bottom of the home page.

The winners will be announced in print only in the April 18 edition of The Inter-Mountain.

We are also having a contest for our businesses — for the most votes. The business with the most votes will win a full-page process ad or the equivalent of online impressions; the business with the second-most votes will win a half-page process ad or the equivalent of online impressions; and the business with the third-most votes will win a quarter-page process ad or the equivalent of online impressions.

The nominating and voting processes give our readers more opportunity to name their favorites.

“The People’s Choice Contest winners will be published in The Inter-Mountain in a special section,” I-M General Manager Michelle Smith said. “The nomination process and voting process will take place online.

“Readers can nominate individuals and businesses for the awards starting Saturday through Jan. 29 on our website, theintermountain.com,” Smith said.

The contest starts 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.

“Register once on our web site and then you can nominate who you’d like for the awards,” Smith said. “Anyone nominated will go to the voting round. Once the nominations are vetted to be sure they are actual businesses, organizations or people in our circulation area, and that they qualify for the category they were nominated for, they will move on to the voting round.

The voting round will be held exclusively online so that more people in the area can have their say by casting their votes. What’s more, people may vote once per day in any or all categories. The voting round is March 7-14.

With the daily online voting, you can vote once per category per day, so you can really show your support for your favorites.

The voting round will determine the People’s Choice winners and finalists.

“We will publish a special voting section in March, and then after all the votes are in, we will publish the winners special section in April,” Smith said. One winner and two finalists for each category will be published in the winner’s special section.

We know the People’s Choice contest is important to the local businesses and organizations that compete. 

Nominees/entrants are prohibited from soliciting votes by offering payments or exchange of value of any kind.

Voting is limited to one vote in each category per person per day. During the nomination phase, nominations can be entered once per category per hour.