Sun Journal Athlete of the Week: How Voting Works & How to Win

One poll among four, and the only one built for Lewiston-Auburn

Maine runs at least four separate newspaper or media Athlete of the Week polls, and the Sun Journal's is the only one drawn exclusively from Androscoggin, Oxford, and Franklin counties. 92.9 The Ticket (Townsquare Media Bangor) covers the whole state. The Portland Press Herald runs Southern Maine. The Bangor Daily News runs the north: Penobscot, Hancock, and Aroostook. The Sun Journal's ballot sits in the middle of that map, tied to the Lewiston-Auburn metro, and it shares nothing with the other three, not a nominee pool, not a publish schedule, not a results archive.

A performance at Edward Little can land on the Sun Journal's ballot without ever crossing 92.9 The Ticket's statewide radar. And the reverse happens too. That's not a technicality. It means a school community here competes for one specific, local honor, not a statewide field diluted across 150-plus programs. The publication is Maine Trust for Local News, the same nonprofit owner behind the Portland Press Herald and two sister dailies, but ownership stops at the masthead. Each paper still runs its own sports desk and picks its own nominees.

None of these four require an account, and none charge to vote. Where they differ is who ever sees a given nominee's name. That's exactly why knowing which poll you're actually on matters more here than in a single statewide contest.

The 3,913-vote result, and what it means for a three-county turnout

A Fall 2025 edition of the Sun Journal's poll closed with a winning total of 3,913 votes. That's a confirmed figure, not an estimate, and it's a meaningful number for a poll whose entire nominee pool comes from three counties rather than a whole state. Some statewide polls in other regions don't clear that total.

What produces a number like that? Not the roster. The nominee's own network, teammates, classmates, family, extends outward to the wider school and the surrounding town, and a poll that regularly runs into the thousands rewards exactly that kind of reach. Sharing the direct link to that week's specific post, not just the sunjournal.com homepage, is what actually gets supporters to the right ballot fast. Miss that step and half your would-be voters land on an old, closed poll instead.

The nominee pool: Telstar, Lewiston, Edward Little, Leavitt, Mt. Abram

Confirmed schools appearing across the 2025-26 season's ballots: Telstar Regional High School (Oxford County), Lewiston High School and Edward Little High School (Androscoggin County), Leavitt Area High School (Androscoggin County), and Mt. Abram High School (Franklin County). Oxford Hills Comprehensive rounds out the Oxford County side of the pool.

Lewiston and Edward Little sit a few miles apart in the same metro. So when both show up on a ballot in the same week, the vote is functionally a Lewiston-Auburn derby, run out through phones instead of a scoreboard. Mt. Abram, out in Franklin County, is a smaller enrollment pulling from a much thinner population base, which is exactly why a Mt. Abram win means something different than a Lewiston win, even though the ballot counts both the same way. For the wider statewide picture beyond this three-county footprint, see the Maine High School Athlete of the Week guide.

Season structure, three ballots, not one

Fall covers football, soccer, field hockey, cross country, and golf. Winter covers basketball, hockey, wrestling, skiing, and swimming. Spring covers baseball, softball, track and field, and lacrosse. Three separate ballots, each tied to whatever's actually being played. The 2025-26 archive confirms live weeks running from Fall Week 2 through Spring Week 7, September 2025 into June 2026.

No single cap or close time is published on the general archive page. So the rule that actually governs your vote is whatever's posted on that specific week's ballot. Check it there, every time, rather than carrying over an assumption from a different week or a different season. Sports fans exploring how other fan-vote polls run their cadence can check our overview of fan poll voting mechanics and the pillar guide to buying votes online.

What this poll doesn't do, and where the line actually is

Winning or losing here has zero effect on Maine Principals' Association standings, playoff seeding, or official classification. The MPA runs those separately, by its own rules, and the Sun Journal's sports desk has no authority over any of it. A poll trophy and a playoff berth are two entirely different things decided by two entirely different bodies.

The archive page also doesn't publish a permanent vote cap. That's a real limitation, not an oversight we're glossing over: whatever governs a given week lives only on that week's own post, and it can change from one week to the next at the sports desk's discretion. Readers weighing whether to buy votes for any public fan poll, this one included, should read our general primer on whether buying votes is legal and whether it's safe before acting, since local newsroom polls can and do adjust their terms mid-season.

For the rest of Maine's prep-sports contests, visit the Maine contest hub. For the national index, see our USA contest guide index, and for the companion honor tracking a full school year rather than a single week, see the Maine High School Player of the Year page.