Great Places in Florida People’s Choice Award: How Voting Works & How to Win

Who votes and why this Florida public-space ballot matters

The Great Places in Florida People’s Choice Award is a statewide public vote run by APA Florida, the Florida chapter of the American Planning Association. Unlike the readers' polls that dominate the best-of field, this ballot is not about businesses or services. It celebrates public spaces that foster connection, care, and community identity, which means the people voting are residents who use parks, districts, and gathering places in their everyday lives rather than customers picking a favorite shop.

APA Florida runs the ballot directly on florida.planning.org, the chapter's own website, under its community outreach section. No third-party poll service sits in front of the supporter. The chapter announces the finalists, describes each one, and invites Floridians to vote for a favorite directly on that page.

The 2025 cycle carried the theme Great Places That Ground Us, highlighting places that reflect the deep ties between people and place, spaces that tell stories, honor culture, and create everyday belonging. That framing tells you who the audience is: anyone in Florida with a stake in the public realm, which is effectively everyone.

Key facts at a glance

Because the ballot is statewide rather than tied to one city's readership, support for a finalist can come from anywhere in Florida, and the chapter's outreach reaches planning professionals and residents alike.

The dated record for the Great Places in Florida award

The confirmed edition years for the Great Places in Florida People’s Choice Award are 2024 and 2025. The 2025 ballot is the one with a fully published page, and it is the edition every date below belongs to. The program is annual, and a 2025 news report covering the winner announcement described the award in those terms, which fits a chapter program that returns each cycle rather than a one-off campaign.

The confirmed 2025 voting window ran from Sept. 3 through Sept. 26. APA Florida printed that span on the finalists page itself, inviting Floridians to vote for one of three inspiring finalists during those weeks. September is therefore the month to watch for this award, though the chapter has not published the dates for the next cycle on the page.

The 2025 edition announced three finalists, all public spaces, under the theme Great Places That Ground Us. A report after the close named Pioneer Park and the Port District in Port St. Lucie as the winner, which is the only result tied to a confirmed edition on this page.

Equally important for anyone planning support is what APA Florida leaves off the page. The chapter prints no category list on the finalists page, and no rules text covering a per-supporter vote cap, repeat voting, or eligibility appears anywhere on the published page; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Nomination or entry dates for the award are likewise absent from the published page. The chapter announces finalists directly, so any selection step inside the chapter happens before the public ever sees the ballot.

How a supporter votes in the Great Places ballot today

Because APA Florida keeps the ballot on its own chapter website, the mechanic stays simple. A supporter visits the finalists page on florida.planning.org, reads the three finalist write-ups, and votes for one of them on that same page. There is no separate platform to join, no poll service redirect, and no account step described on the published page.

The choice structure matters. The ballot asks for a vote for one of the three finalists, not a ranking and not a multi-select. A supporter who arrives intending to back a specific place should confirm that place is among the year's finalists before planning any outreach, because the slate changes with each edition and the 2025 slate reflected that year's theme.

Nothing on the published page describes a login, an email verification step, or a captcha gate. That does not mean such steps never appear; it means the chapter has not printed them, and during an open window the ballot is the only spot where a live instruction would surface.

The calendar is the second half of the picture. The 2025 window ran Sept. 3 through Sept. 26, a span of a little over three weeks. A supporter who waits until the final days risks finding the ballot closed, and the chapter does not print an extension policy on the page.

Anyone rallying others does best to pass along the finalists page address itself instead of describing the steps secondhand, since the page carries the finalist names, the theme, and the vote action in one place.

How this statewide award sits beside Florida's readers' polls

Florida's public-vote field is crowded, but the Great Places in Florida People’s Choice Award occupies a distinct lane. The Best of Florida Awards, the Best of Miami Readers' Poll, the Best of Orlando ballot, Best of Tallahassee, Best of the Bay, and Best in Destin are all best-of programs centered on businesses, services, and local favorites in a city or region.

This award is different on three counts. First, it is statewide and run by a professional association rather than a media publisher, so its masthead is a planning chapter rather than a newspaper or radio station. Second, its ballot options are public spaces, not businesses, which changes who mobilizes support: park friends groups and neighborhood associations rather than shop owners. Third, it lives on the chapter's own website, while many readers' polls run on dedicated contest platforms.

The practical difference for anyone voting comes down to reach. A Miami readers' poll draws on that city's audience; the Great Places ballot draws on anyone in Florida who cares about the public realm. For a finalist's advocates, that means outreach can span the whole state, and the September window does not collide with the fall readers'-poll season that many of the sibling programs occupy.

Anyone comparing programs should also compare rules, not just formats, because each organizer publishes different terms on its own ballot.

Strengthening support for a Great Places finalist

Support for a public-space finalist works differently from support for a business in a readers' poll. The people who care about a park or district are already organized around it, so the strongest play is rallying the groups that already exist: friends-of-the-park associations, neighborhood councils, and the local planning community that APA Florida itself reaches.

Timing matters given the confirmed shape of the cycle. The 2025 window ran Sept. 3 through Sept. 26, so outreach built in the first week has far more room to compound than a push in the final days. Point people at the finalists page itself, since it carries the vote action and the finalist descriptions together.

On outside help, the published page states no rules either way: APA Florida prints nothing about purchased votes, software, or third-party support on the finalists page. That silence is not permission, and anyone weighing options should read the live ballot's terms first. General background on strengthening a public vote sits in the get-more-votes guide, and the service options are described on the main service page without any promise attached to this ballot.

Whatever route a backer takes, the single-choice format pits every vote against a fixed slate of three, so concentrated support for one finalist beats scattered support across several.