Chandler Mayor's Neighborhood Excellence People's Choice Award: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the Chandler Neighborhood Excellence People's Choice Award and who runs it?

The Chandler Mayor's Neighborhood Excellence People's Choice Award is an awards program run by the City of Chandler, Arizona. The City's page describes the Neighborhood Excellence Awards as a way to recognize "neighborhoods that participate in the annual Getting Arizona Involved in Neighborhoods (G.A.I.N.) events," which links the awards to the City's neighborhood engagement work rather than to a commercial ballot.

The awards date back to the State of the City address. The page reports that the first Mayor's Neighborhood Excellence Awards were presented at the mayor's State of the City address in early 2014, which places the program's start in 2014. The People's Choice category is the public part of the program, and the page presents it alongside a Mayor's Choice category.

When is the People's Choice voting window, and what is not printed?

The People's Choice Awards are printed as open from Wednesday, Aug. 19, through Wednesday, Sept. 2. That is the only voting window the page gives, and it carries no year on the page, so a reader must match the dates to the edition being checked. The window is the single most important date for any resident planning to vote.

The 2025 voting dates are not described on the page; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Printed dates for the awards cycle

The People's Choice window is the window most residents will watch, and it is the only public vote the page describes. A resident who wants the Mayor's Choice result should look for the City's own announcement, because the awards page does not say how that category is decided.

How does a resident vote on the Chandler awards page today?

A resident votes for a neighborhood during the People's Choice window, and the page limits each device to a single vote. The rule is printed in plain words: "Voters may cast one vote per device." That is the central constraint for any voter, and it determines how a household with several devices should plan its participation.

The awards page does not describe an account, a phone check or a resident verification step for the vote. It also does not print a list of eligible neighborhoods beyond the link to the eligibility material. Anyone wanting those details should follow the eligibility and application links the page provides, rather than assume the vote page repeats them.

What a voter sees

The page's approach keeps the vote simple, but it also means a resident should read the eligibility material before promoting a neighborhood. A vote is only the final step in a process that begins with the City's rules.

How does the Chandler awards program sit beside other Arizona listings?

The Arizona listings nearest this ballot in the directory are best-of and readers' ballots, including the 2026 Best of Sedona Kudos, the 2026 Best of Verde Valley and the 2026 Prescott Readers' Choice. Each of those is run by its own organizer for its own market, so none of them is a Chandler listing.

The Chandler award is different in kind. It is a City program that recognizes neighborhoods, while the A Taste of AZ People's Choice Award and the 2025 MVDN Best of are other best-of listings with their own organizers. The 2025 Courier Cares Christmas Lighting Contest is a holiday lighting ballot with its own rules.

How can a neighborhood build support for a People's Choice vote?

A neighborhood that wants support should start with the eligibility material, because the vote only matters for neighborhoods that qualify. The awards page links to that information, and it is the surest guide to whether a nominee fits the program. Support work that ignores the eligibility rules will be aimed at the wrong target.

Once a neighborhood is eligible, the work is informing residents about the People's Choice window of August 19 through September 2. Each device carries a single vote, so a neighborhood association can ask residents to vote from their own devices during that span. The City has not published guidance on outside help, and no campaign method is endorsed here. A general guide to public voting is available in the guide to getting more votes online, and follow the City's own rules first.