Illinois Online Voting Contests

Herald & Review Illinois Player of the Week

Decatur · Herald & Review

The Herald & Review's weekly fan-vote poll covering high school sports across central Illinois — Decatur, Bloomington-Normal, Mattoon, Charleston, and the smaller programs between them. It closes Monday at 10 a.m. CT, earlier than most weekly polls, and results post Monday afternoon.

Herald-News Joliet Athlete of the Week

The Herald-News (Shaw Local, Joliet/Will County) runs a weekly multi-sport fan-vote poll for area high schools: readers nominate, then vote, unlimited times per person, until the poll closes at noon on Sunday.

Illinois High School Athlete of the Week

Statewide Illinois · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Statewide Illinois fan-vote award at si.com, published weekly by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive) across all three IHSA sports seasons. No vote cap; polls close Sunday at 11:59 p.m. CT. Covers 800-plus IHSA member schools statewide.

Illinois High School Player of the Year

Statewide Illinois · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Annual statewide Illinois fan-vote award at si.com, run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive) at the end of each sport season. One sport-specific POY ballot per season; no per-vote cap for human voters; automated scripts disqualify a campaign's total. Covers all 800-plus IHSA member schools statewide.

Illinois SI Football Class 4A Player of the Year

Statewide Illinois · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Free per-classification fan vote run by High School on SI at si.com/high-school/illinois, crowning a standalone Class 4A winner one rung below the eight-class ladder's exact middle, drawing largely from Illinois's downstate and smaller-suburban football programs. The ballot doesn't ask for a login before a click gets counted.

Illinois SI Football Class 5A Player of the Year

Statewide Illinois · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Per-classification fan vote run by High School on SI at si.com/high-school/illinois, crowning a standalone Class 5A winner — the exact midpoint of the state's eight-way football Player of the Year ladder, with four smaller classes below it and three larger ones above. No account or sign-up step sits between a click and a vote.

Illinois SI Football Class 6A Player of the Year

Statewide Illinois · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Per-classification fan vote run by High School on SI at si.com/high-school/illinois, crowning a standalone Class 6A winner in the state's eight-way football Player of the Year format — the tier that produced back-to-back title-game rematches between East St. Louis and Fenwick. No account or sign-up step sits between a click and a vote.

Illinois SI Football Class 7A Player of the Year

Statewide Illinois · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Per-classification fan vote run by High School on SI at si.com/high-school/illinois, crowning a separate Class 7A winner, the tier sitting directly beneath Illinois's largest-enrollment class, inside the state's eight-way football Player of the Year format. No sign-up step stands between a click and a counted vote.

Illinois SI Football Class 8A Player of the Year

Statewide Illinois · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Per-classification fan vote run by High School on SI at si.com/high-school/illinois, crowning a separate Class 8A winner rather than folding the state's largest-enrollment programs into one combined ballot — the same class-by-class format SI uses for football POY coverage in Iowa, Minnesota, and Michigan. Casting a vote needs no sign-up step.

Illinois SI Football Player of the Year

Statewide Illinois · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Annual single-sport fan vote run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive) at si.com/high-school/illinois, crowning one Illinois football standout after IHSA's Class 1A-8A championships conclude. The ballot opens in late November or December and closes by early January; no account is required to cast a vote.

News-Gazette Athlete of the Week

Champaign · The News-Gazette

The News-Gazette weekly fan vote for standout Champaign-Urbana area high-school athletes — boys and girls polled separately each Monday, one vote per device, closing Thursday at noon. The per-device cap and midweek deadline make this the most time-compressed prep poll in Illinois.

Peoria Journal Star Boys & Girls Athlete of the Week

Peoria · Peoria Journal Star (pjstar.com)

The Peoria Journal Star's weekly fan-vote award for the best prep athlete in the Peoria metro and central Illinois. CEFCU sponsors the poll; it runs boys and girls ballots simultaneously; and it closes Friday at noon -- not Sunday, not Monday. That Friday cutoff is the first thing to get right.

Rockford Register Star Athlete of the Week

Rockford · Rockford Register Star

The Rockford Register Star's weekly fan-vote award covering high school athletes across the Rockford metro — multi-sport, year-round, capped at one vote per device per day, and decided Friday at noon. Nominations go to [email protected] by Monday morning.

WCIA Athlete of the Week (Champaign)

Three Central Illinois outlets run separate athlete polls in the same footprint: WCIA 3's weekly, every-sport ballot opens nominations each Wednesday, sits apart from a $1,500 annual scholarship award, and covers a defined multi-county broadcast area rather than the whole state.

Best of Chicago (Chicago Reader)

The Chicago Reader runs Best of Chicago itself, no syndication network, no chain ownership. Every category is decided by reader ballots, and the 2025 cycle stays open through December 31.

Best of Naperville

Naperville Magazine's reader poll across roughly 60 local categories, built on email-verified nominate-then-vote rounds and now in its 17th year.

Best of Springfield (Illinois Times)

Illinois Times' annual Best of Springfield readers poll spans more than 200 categories, and Best Donut pulled the highest voter engagement of the 2025 cycle. Results ran in the paper's October 30 issue, closed out with an in-person results party rather than a quiet online leaderboard.

Best of the West

West Suburban Living Magazine's annual reader-vote ballot across 80-plus categories covering DuPage, Kane, Kendall, and Will County's western Chicago suburbs, now past its 17th year in print and online.

CommunityVotes Peoria IL

CommunityVotes Peoria IL runs a public business voting program at peoriail.communityvotes.com. It operates independently of YourChoiceAwards, the separate company behind the Peoria Journal Star's Community's Choice ballot, and no published category list, vote cap, or fixed calendar accompanies the confirmed operator name and URL.

Daily Herald Readers' Choice

Daily Herald's Readers' Choice awards, voted at readerschoice.dailyherald.com and live for the 2026 cycle, cover the paper's suburban Chicago footprint across Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and McHenry counties. Category list, cap, and close date aren't published beyond the live site each cycle.

Peoria Journal Star Community's Choice

YourChoiceAwards runs the Peoria Journal Star's Community's Choice readers-choice program at peoriail.communityvotes.com, where the public votes for local businesses across the Peoria metro. Results are published in the Peoria Journal Star itself, and the specific category list, vote cap, and calendar are not documented anywhere else public.

Sauk Valley Favorites

Sauk Valley Media's annual reader vote across 100 categories for the Sterling, Rock Falls, and Dixon region — 67,000-plus votes and 1,400-plus businesses recognized in 2025, with winners announced at a live gala.

Springfield Community's Choice

YourChoiceAwards runs Springfield Community's Choice at yourchoiceawards.com/springfieldil/, the capital city's local readers-choice program. The 2025 cycle's winners are confirmed; category list, vote cap, and this cycle's close date should be read off the live ballot page rather than assumed from a prior year.