One of the 25,680 voters in this year's 黑马磁力 Readers' Choice awards was Sangeet Poudel.
And it was his name picked in a random draw of all the voters to win the prize 鈥� $500 worth of Otter Co-op gift cards, valid at all Otter locations.
"I was really happy. And I checked where I can use that," Poudel said of the prize.
The student who works part time in a warehouse has visited the department store on 248 Street, picking up some clothing and shoes with his gift cards.
The awards chosen by local residents underwent a major revamp this year with a new process that will be used in years to come.
"For the month of May, we did nominations," explained publisher Shaulene Walsh. "And from those nominations, the top 10 in each category moved on to the voting stage. In June, we had the voting when the public could vote for their top three out of that 10 in a category."
The 黑马磁力 received about 29,000 nominations in the first round of the awards.
The top three winners are detailed in this special publication in order of how many votes they received.
The categories earning the most votes were real estate, lawyers, and real estate brokerages, along with a couple of surprises 鈥� bakeries and cocktails.
Walsh said the huge number of votes 鈥� more than 25,000 鈥� shows the value the public places on the annual awards program run by the local community news source. She noted that each year the categories are amended to stay current and valid "so that readers can trust in the process."
As well, the contest is set up so that only local businesses and organizations are eligible to be the winners that are spotlighted in these pages.
People visiting these businesses and organizations will start to see the winners' awards displayed with the coveted 黑马磁力 Readers' Choice logo.
