1. What the awards are
Every month, neighbors vote for a Business of the Month in each category. Each Business of the Month joins the running for our yearly Community Awards, announced the second week of December.
2. Who can vote
Anyone can vote once they confirm their name, email and mobile number with a one-time code. Votes only count after that check.
3. How to vote
Recommend a business you trust on the Awards page and say why in your own words. Your recommendation is your vote.
4. Vote limits
You can vote once in each category each month. You can recommend each business once. If you recommend a second business in a category you've already voted in this month, your recommendation is still saved, but it doesn't count as an award vote until next month.
5. Why some votes count more
A recommendation that says what the business actually did is worth more. A short reason counts as 1 vote, and more detail earns up to 3 votes.
6. Which votes count
Only verified votes count. Votes that look unusual (for example, repeated text, lots of votes from one device or connection, or signs of self-promotion) are held while our team checks them. Held votes that aren't cleared don't count.
7. Businesses can't vote for themselves
Owners, and anyone voting for their own business, can't vote for it. Those votes are blocked or removed and never counted.
8. Which businesses can win
Any local business in our network can win. Membership and payments never affect votes, rankings or results.
9. When voting opens and closes
Each voting month runs from 12:00am on the 1st to 11:59pm on the last day of the month, Southwest Florida time (Eastern time).
10. How the winner is picked
The business with the most counted votes in a category wins Business of the Month for that category. Our team confirms the totals before announcing. If two businesses tie, the one recommended by more separate people wins. Winners are announced early the next month, here and in our community groups.
11. What winners get
Each Business of the Month is announced with a story and a medal, joins our past honorees on the Awards page and is in the running for the Community Awards in December.
12. Cheating and disqualification
Buying votes, using fake or borrowed accounts, coordinating copy-paste votes or voting for your own business isn't allowed. We may remove votes, disqualify a business or suspend an account when we find it.
13. Changes and questions
We may update these rules. The latest version is always on this page. Questions? Email team@toprecommends.com.