Best of the Valley: How Voting Works & How to Win

One ballot, three Valley "best of" polls, and only one of them caps you at two categories

Two categories. That's the whole ballgame for a Best of the Valley voter, and it's the fact that separates this poll from its two Phoenix-area siblings. Ranking Arizona doesn't cap category count. Best of Phoenix doesn't either. Best of the Valley, PHOENIX magazine's readers' poll, does, and a supporter who doesn't know that going in ends up spreading a scattered vote across categories that don't matter to the business asking for help.

The other number worth knowing up front: roughly 285,000 votes came in during the recent cycle, and this is a poll old enough to have hit a 25th anniversary in 2025. A newer metro poll doesn't carry that kind of reader habit built up over two and a half decades.

Why the non-chain rule matters more than it sounds like it should

A national coffee chain's Scottsdale location can often still get nominated. Whether it can actually win depends on PHOENIX magazine's local-or-non-chain eligibility rule for that cycle, and that's a filter neither Ranking Arizona nor Best of Phoenix documents at all. A multi-location franchise operator chasing a Best of the Valley title needs to check that specific address against the current year's rule before spending a single dollar on outreach.

Independent Valley businesses get a cleaner shot here

That eligibility structure tilts the winners' pool toward businesses that grew up in the Valley rather than brands that opened a branch there. A family-run Tempe taco stand competing for a Food category slot isn't fighting the same uphill eligibility question a chain location would face for the win itself, even if both appear on the same nomination list.

For campaign mechanics that apply across award-style ballots generally, see award vote campaigns. Restaurants specifically, a category that shows up heavily here, have their own playbook at restaurant vote campaigns.

A four-month window means the two-category message has to land early

January through April 30. That's the confirmed voting window, and four months is long enough that a business can badly under-plan the reminder cadence, especially once the two-category cap enters the picture.

A business that also runs a Ranking Arizona or Best of Phoenix campaign in the same season has to keep the asks separate. Telling a customer to "vote in all three" without naming categories for each one is how a supporter burns their two Best of the Valley slots on the wrong ballot entirely.

Scottsdale, Gilbert, and south Phoenix aren't voting the same way

Best of the Valley categories run Valley-wide by default, so a Scottsdale boutique and a Gilbert boutique typically land in the same Shopping-type category. The customer bases behind each nomination, though, don't behave the same.

A Paradise Valley boutique and a Tempe taco stand are both chasing the same two-category cap, but the message that gets a Paradise Valley regular to click is not the message that gets an ASU student to click. Match the ask to the audience, not just the category name. For general primer material on getting an entry noticed, see getting more votes online.

What 285,000 votes and 25 years of history don't tell you

PHOENIX magazine hasn't published a per-category breakdown of that roughly 285,000-vote total, so treat it as the poll's overall scale, not a benchmark for what any single category needs to win. Old screenshots and reseller pages claiming specific past winners circulate every cycle; the only source worth trusting is PHOENIX magazine's own published result for the exact year and category in question.

The honest limit here: this guide can't tell a business what vote count wins a given category, because that number isn't public. What a campaign can control is the message, correct category name, correct business name, correct link to phoenixmag.com/best-of-the-valley/, and a clear reminder of the two-category cap, in front of customers who were already inclined to support the business. Before results post, "nominated" is the accurate word, not "winner." For the mechanics of turning that reminder into actual turnout, see getting votes for an online contest and, for the underlying platform mechanics, how online contest votes work. Check the full Arizona contest hub for every other statewide and local program tracked here, including the two siblings this page compares against above.