Times Herald-Record Hudson Valley Communitys Choice Awards: How Voting Works & How to Win

What are the Times Herald-Record Hudson Valley Communitys Choice Awards and who runs them?

The Times Herald-Record Hudson Valley Communitys Choice Awards celebrate businesses and organizations in the Hudson Valley. The Times Herald-Record is the organizer, and the ballot itself runs on Your Choice Awards, a separate platform. A reader searching for the awards is therefore looking at a newspaper-sponsored ballot hosted by a third party, which changes where the rules are found.

The format is a three-stage process, and each stage carries its own dates. The organizer's name also matters for rules questions, since the newspaper and the platform both shape what a supporter may do. Read the rules on the live ballot rather than relying on the program name alone.

A reader should first confirm which organizer's rules apply. The Times Herald-Record is the named sponsor, while the voting itself is hosted by a platform, so both the newspaper's terms and the platform's terms can matter when a question about voting comes up.

What is the 2026 schedule, and which edition is confirmed?

The 2026 schedule has three dated stages. Nominations ran from July 9 to 30, 2026, the voting round was set for September 16 to 30, 2026, and the winners announcement was set for December 13, 2026. The page now marks nominations as closed, so the schedule can be checked against the live ballot. The three dates sit in one place so that a reader can compare each stage with the live page without assuming the calendar is final.

This is the first confirmed edition; whether it returns next year is not yet published; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

How does a supporter vote in a category today?

A supporter waits for the voting round, then opens the Hudson Valley ballot on Your Choice Awards. The round shows the companies that advanced from nominations in each category, so a supporter chooses from that shortlist rather than the full field. The public vote is the mechanic the page describes, and no judging panel appears in the text.

Each category carries its own choices, which means a supporter may back different companies in different categories. Whether a single supporter may vote in every category, and how often, is not stated in the ballot text, so the per-voter rule stays unknown from this page.

The ballot text gives no device rule and no printed summary of how votes combine across categories. A supporter should review the category list once the round opens and before casting any vote.

Supporters who want to back a company should confirm that the company appears in the category where it wants to be judged, since each category shows its own shortlist. A company that advanced in one category does not automatically advance in another.

How does this awards ballot sit beside the other Hudson Valley and New York ballots?

New York has several best-of ballots that sit beside this one, and most of them name a city or borough rather than a regional market. The table below lists the sibling ballots, so a reader can see how the Hudson Valley program differs from the city ballots. The nearest sibling by geography is Best of Hudson Valley, which is a magazine ballot with its own organizer and dates.

The contrast is the market itself. This program covers a Hudson Valley region tied to one newspaper, while the sibling ballots are organized around boroughs, a magazine or a county. Sibling dates sit outside this page, so confirm each one on its own live ballot.

A reader comparing the Hudson Valley program with the New York City ballots should note that those programs cover different geography, so a company that appears in one may not appear in the other. Matching names across ballots is not a reliable test of which rules apply.

How can a company gain support in the Hudson Valley awards?

Support for a company in this ballot comes from the public voting round and the organizer's own rules, and the ballot text gives no rule on outside help. A company can tell its customers that it is in the voting round, which is ordinary promotion. A paid vote service is a different question, and it is covered by the buying votes online overview.

For general steps that apply to public ballots, the getting more votes online guide explains outreach in plain terms and does not promise a result. The ballot text does not address outside help, so the organizer's position is unknown; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.