Herald News Boys Sports Team of the Year: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the Herald News Boys Sports Team of the Year?

The Herald News Boys Sports Team of the Year is a public web poll run by The Herald News, the publication tied to Fall River, Massachusetts. The poll is hosted on Crowdsignal, and its ballot sits at poll.fm under ballot number 17237651. Readers choose from a list of boys programs, and each answer names a school team in one sport rather than an individual athlete.

Because the vote is public, the result comes from ballots cast by readers, not from a jury, an editorial panel or a ranking formula. Its vertical is best-of awards, so the ballot belongs with Massachusetts awards polls rather than with a general sports fan poll. The table below sets out the core facts for this poll.

The ballot page is the place to confirm names and terms, and this guide points to it rather than copying it.

When has the poll run, and when does voting open?

Ballots exist for two seasons, 2025 and 2026. The 2025 ballot ran as a live poll on poll.fm, and the 2026 ballot is dated to July. Because the cycle has repeated, the program is treated as annual, though whether a 2027 edition follows the same calendar is not yet known.

The dated facts are easy to misread, so the timeline below separates what is known from what is not. Each season has its own ballot, but the page does not give opening and closing days for either year. No opening or closing day is printed for either season on this page; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

A reader planning around the calendar should treat July as the month to watch, then check the poll itself for the start and end days before acting on that timing.

Whether the poll returns in 2027 is not yet published, and this page makes no promise either way.

How does a supporter vote in the poll today?

A supporter votes on the poll.fm ballot. The page lists each boys team as an answer, so a supporter reads the list, presses Vote beside the team they back, and can then press View Results to see the current tally. The mechanic is a public vote in which readers, not judges, decide the leader.

Each answer is a team, so a supporter backs a school program in one sport. The listed answers below show the names as they appear on the ballot, and the spelling on the live page is the one to use.

Because a school can appear under more than one sport, a reader who wants to back a particular program should locate the exact sport line first. Whether one person or one device may vote once or several times is not stated on this page.

How does this poll sit beside the other Massachusetts best-of ballots?

This program is one of six best-of ballots in Massachusetts that this site lists beside it, along with the statewide hub at Massachusetts contests. The siblings are Best of Boston, Best of Boston (Boston Magazine), Best of Cape Cod, Central Mass Community Choice Awards, BOSS - Best of South Shore and Boston.com Readers Say.

What sets this ballot apart is its subject. The Herald News poll asks readers to back a school team in a named sport, while each sibling is a separate program with its own page. Read a sibling page for its own rules, since the sibling pages keep their own terms.

How can a school team gain more support in this poll?

The poll is a public vote, so support comes from readers who open the ballot and press Vote for the team they back. Supporters who want more reach usually share the poll with classmates, parents, coaches and alumni, and remind them to vote on the live page.

Outside help has to be judged on its own terms. The Herald News has not published guidance on outside promotion, so any plan is a supporter's own call. Paid vote packages are sold by some services, and the buy votes online page explains that offer, but no service can guarantee a place on a public ballot. For the free steps, the get more votes online guide covers the practical side of reaching voters.

Expectations matter on a public ballot. The final count reflects how many readers take part in the Herald News poll, and a team's standing can shift as the tally moves. A supporter who focuses on reaching local readers, rather than on any shortcut, is working with the only lever the public vote offers.