Best of the Upper Keys (Keys Weekly): How Voting Works & How to Win

What Best of the Upper Keys is and which paper runs it

Best of the Upper Keys is a reader ballot published by Keys Weekly, the Florida Keys Weekly Newspapers group, for favorite places and people in the Upper Keys, the stretch around Key Largo and Islamorada in Florida. The 2026 page carries the title "Best of Upper Keys 26" and a headline question, "Who's the Best?" Its announcement is direct: "Nominations for the Best of the Upper Keys 2026 are officially open!"

The ballot lives on keysweekly.com, the newspaper's own site, not on a contest platform. That matters for a business owner, because the newspaper that sells the advertising and prints the winners also hosts the form, so its page is the single source for how a pick is counted. The page text encourages readers to make their picks and show some love to Upper Keys favorites.

The site that hosts the ballot also reaches beyond the Upper Keys: its navigation includes other Best Of lists for other parts of the Keys, so this ballot is one of several local editions from the same publisher. This page covers only the Upper Keys one. The table lists the facts that the confirmed page states.

The confirmed years and the October 4 cutoff

Keys Weekly has put this ballot on the web in 2025 and in 2026, and only the later cycle carries a dated stage. Readers can nominate Upper Keys favorites once a day through Sunday, October 4 at 11:59 p.m., so the nomination window closes late on a Sunday night.

A nomination stage usually precedes a voting stage, but the confirmed text on file describes only the first, so the dates for a final ballot, for finalists and for winners are not in front of us. The newspaper has not printed its category list or any later rule in the text we hold; confirm on the live ballot each cycle. Because a 2027 edition is not published, any plan for next year should wait for the paper. A business owner reading this in October should treat the Sunday cutoff as the date that matters most for the 2026 cycle.

How the once-a-day rule works for readers

The mechanic is the nomination form on the Best of Upper Keys 26 page. A reader names Upper Keys favorites and may do so once a day through the Sunday cutoff. The limit is stated in the page's own words, which ask readers to nominate "once a day."

A daily limit changes how support builds. It rewards steady reminders over a single burst: a business that asks its regulars to nominate on several different days gives each of them repeated chances to name it, while a one-time email reaches only people who act that day. It also keeps the effort modest per person, since a reader needs only a minute a day.

Think of the daily limit as a pacing device. A reader who nominates on Monday and again on Thursday has not broken anything; the page invites exactly that. For a restaurant on Key Largo or a boat shop on Islamorada, the sensible reading is to remind people at the register, on the menu and in a weekly post, each time pointing to the same page.

The page does not say whether a nominator needs an account, which categories exist, or how nominees are narrowed into a final ballot. Those answers belong to the live Keys Weekly page. A reader who follows Key Largo or Islamorada businesses can use the Who's the Best? headline as the cue: the form asks for favorites, and a nomination names the people and places a reader would recommend to a visitor. Because the newspaper hosts the form, the same page also tells readers when each later stage begins.

How the Upper Keys ballot sits among Florida's polls

Florida's public ballots on this site range from statewide lists to single-city polls. The Upper Keys ballot is one of the smallest by geography, a stretch of islands served by a weekly newspaper group. Its Florida siblings include the Best of Florida Awards, the Best of Miami Readers' Poll, Best of Orlando, Best of Tallahassee and Best of the Bay, plus a pet calendar contest.

What sets the Upper Keys apart is the pairing of a small readership with a daily nomination limit, which makes steady local word of mouth worth more than a single large push. A statewide list such as the Best of Florida Awards draws entries from across the peninsula, and a metro poll like the Best of Miami Readers' Poll serves a city. This ballot is neither: it asks one island chain to name its own favorites, and the newspaper that serves that chain is the host.

For a reader comparing Florida's ballots, the practical difference is time. The Upper Keys page shows a nomination cutoff on a specific Sunday, while the sibling polls publish their own schedules on their own pages. Each organizer sets its own calendar, so the safest habit is to read the date on the page in front of you.

Building support for an Upper Keys nominee

The confirmed 2026 text covers nominations only. If a later voting stage follows, it will be announced by the newspaper on the same site, and the paper's wording at that point will say whether the daily rule carries over. Until then a nominee should not assume any rule that the page does not state.

With a once-a-day limit and a Sunday cutoff, a nominee's best tool is repetition across days: a counter sign, a social post and a short reminder that points customers to keysweekly.com. Keys Weekly has printed nothing about outside help, so its page is the authority.

Our guide to getting more votes online covers outreach that works on reader ballots, and buy votes online describes the paid service. Whatever a nominee chooses, a result cannot be promised by any vendor.