I’m so glad you’re interested! Here’s a bit more about what we’re up to:
Back in 1986, the magazine debuted the Best of Louisville Awards. (The Best VHS Rental Shop in ’86, in case you were wondering, was Video Madness.) We started out by doing Readers’ Choice: letting folks vote via a ballot inserted into the magazine for subscribers and, in later years, via an online ballot too. The results were too easy to manipulate and too often predictable and not reflective of our entire city. So to supplement those picks we retreated to the opposite, we’ll-just-do-it-ourselves extreme: Critic’s Choice, with individual writers and editors (ahem, “experts”) picking favorites, without acknowledging blind spots.
Time for a new approach.
We’re building the Best of Louisville Voting Academy, a group of groups (by neighborhoods, by professions, by interests) that represent the best in us as a city.
Here’s how it works: Each week (or so), I ask three questions — always easily and, if you prefer, anonymously answered on your phone via email — about your perspective on what represents the Best of Louisville. Almost always one multiple-choice question, one needing a one-word answer and one open-ended. Some weeks, I ask less-celebratory questions about the state of our city. I always want participation to be easy, meaning you don’t have to answer every time. I distill the responses and share them back with you, and also with our readers. All of this will culminate in an annual Best of Louisville print issue and party.
I'm so glad you're going to be a part of our new Best of Louisville, and I'm excited to start sending you questions and learning about our city based on what you're seeing, thinking, feeling and doing.
As always, don't hesitate to get in touch with any thoughts or questions you might have. — Josh, editor, Louisville Magazine