2026 WXXV Viewer's Choice Awards: How Voting Works & How to Win

A Biloxi-Gulfport television ballot for the businesses viewers already use

The 2026 WXXV Viewer's Choice Awards is a public-vote awards program produced by WXXV-TV 25, a commercial television station based at 14351 Hwy 49 North in Gulfport, Mississippi. The station broadcasts across the Biloxi-Gulfport television market on the Mississippi coast, and the ballot asks that audience to name the local businesses, schools and personalities they rate highest. It belongs to the best-of vertical: the same broad family of readers-choice contests that newspapers and broadcasters across the state stage every year.

Technically, the ballot is a nomination and voting promotion hosted on Second Street, the platform behind a large share of American readers-choice contests. The live address is wxxv25.secondstreetapp.com/2026-WXXV-Viewers-Choice-Awards, and the same host carries the station's earlier editions under their own addresses. Voting is free and open to the viewing public, and the program's whole premise is community judgment rather than a judging panel.

The station frames the program as a celebration of the Coast's favorite places, and past cycles have extended beyond the ballot itself: WXXV TV 25 staged a Viewer's Choice Awards Gala in Biloxi that its coverage tied to the program. For a business, that means recognition can reach the station's audience on air, not only on the results page.

The dated timeline: five summer editions since 2022

The program's confirmed run spans 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, with each edition anchored to a summer window on Second Street. The earliest dated start in that run is July 4, 2022, and the current listing opened July 7, 2026 and is set to close September 10, 2026. Five consecutive editions make this an established annual fixture on the station's calendar rather than a first-time experiment.

Inside the 2026 window, the station's own notice splits the cycle into phases. Nominations come first, and the voting stretch runs August 12 to September 9, when supporters choose among the top nominees in each category. The listing itself stays open through September 10, which gives the station a wrap-up day after the last ballots land.

Not everything is printed where a reader can quote it. WXXV has not put its full category roster on the public listing, so which fields run and which businesses sit on the ballot in each is something to confirm on the live ballot each cycle. Eligibility conditions and how the station handles ties or disputes are likewise not spelled out in its public notice, and the station resolves those details internally as each cycle proceeds.

For the 2027 edition, the sensible read is a return to the summer pattern, because every confirmed edition so far has followed it. Still, the station sets each cycle's dates itself, and nothing on the 2026 listing binds next summer's calendar.

How a supporter votes, step by step, in the 2026 cycle

The mechanic is deliberately simple so that an entire broadcast audience can take part. A supporter opens the Second Street ballot at the wxxv25 address, picks a category, and selects a nominee. The station's notice states the cadence plainly: viewers can vote on the top nominees in each category once a day, every day, during the voting period from August 12 to September 9.

That daily rule is the single most useful fact for any campaign around this ballot. A business with five hundred loyal customers does not win on launch night; it wins by getting a fraction of those customers to return every day for four weeks. The rule also means every category is its own race: a vote cast in the best-restaurant field does nothing for a favorite hair salon, so a supporter who cares about several categories repeats the whole run in each one.

Before the voting stretch begins, the ballot runs a nomination phase, which is how the top nominees in each category get set. A business that wants a realistic shot needs its customers to nominate it early, then come back daily once the shortlist is confirmed. Missing the nomination stretch means waiting a full year for the next chance.

The ballot requires no payment, and Second Street's forms work in a plain browser on phone or desktop. If the form asks for an email or sign-in to log a daily return, the on-screen prompts handle it, and the station counts the ballot once submitted.

Where this ballot sits among Mississippi's best-of contests

Mississippi readers have no shortage of readers-choice ballots, and this one is distinguishable by its publisher and its geography. It belongs to a television station in Gulfport rather than a newspaper, and its reach is the Biloxi-Gulfport coastal market. Its neighbours on this site answer to different newsrooms and different corners of the state.

Closest in spirit is Best of Coastal Mississippi, which also courts audiences along the state's coastline, though it answers to its own publication. Statewide, Best of Mississippi and Best of the Best Jackson cover much larger territories, while Best of Oxford and the Daily Journal Readers Choice in Tupelo serve north Mississippi college and newspaper towns. The C Spire Conerly Trophy Fan Vote is the sports-minded outlier of the set.

What makes the WXXV program distinct is the combination of broadcast and ballot. A winner here is not only listed on a results page; it is promoted by a station whose viewers already trust its local coverage, and past cycles have added a gala event in Biloxi. On the platform side, Second Street's nomination-then-vote design gives the cycle its two-stage shape, which differs from ballots that skip straight to voting.

For a coastal business weighing where to invest effort, the practical answer is that these programs do not compete on the same ballot. Support earned from WXXV's audience counts only here, so the station's own cycle, its daily rule and its summer calendar are what a campaign has to fit.

Strengthening support in a daily-return ballot

Everything about this ballot rewards rhythm over volume. Because the station allows a daily return in each category, a supporter who comes back every day from August 12 through September 9 contributes roughly four weeks of ballots, while a friend who votes a single time adds almost nothing. Businesses that succeed here turn the daily rule into a habit for their customers: a register sign that says come back tomorrow, a morning social post during the voting stretch, an email reminder at the same hour each day.

Early nomination matters just as much. The shortlist is set before voting starts, so a business that waits for the voting stretch to ask for support may find its category already closed to new names. Ask customers to nominate in July, then remind them daily once the ballot confirms the top nominees. Our general guide at building online support for contests covers reminder timing, staff messaging and tracking without guesswork.