The Fayetteville Observer 910Preps Athlete of the Week: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the 910Preps Athlete of the Week poll and who runs it?

The Fayetteville Observer 910Preps Athlete of the Week is a public poll that asks readers to choose the high school athlete of the week in the Fayetteville area. The Fayetteville Observer is the organizer, and the ballot is served by Crowdsignal (poll.fm) as ballot 16587462. The 910Preps name identifies the high school sports brand that the Observer uses for the series, and the poll sits in the sport vertical.

Fayetteville is the city named for this program, and North Carolina is the state. The newspaper is the organizer, while the poll.fm host is the place where votes are cast. The table below gathers those facts in one place so the later sections can refer back to them instead of restating them. A reader who only needs the basics can stop after the table and the answer block at the top of this page.

Which seasons are confirmed and when do the weekly ballots fall?

Confirmed seasons are 2024, 2025 and 2026, and the series runs as weekly ballots through the high school year. A closed ballot in the listing is titled with the dates Jan. 26-30, which shows how a single week is labelled on the poll.

The exact voting window for each week is not published in the listing, and a reader finds the closing day on the open ballot; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

The Jan. 26-30 label shows a winter week in the series. Summer and fall weeks are not described in the listing, so readers should not assume a fixed calendar beyond what each ballot states.

How does a supporter vote on the weekly ballot today?

A supporter opens the current 910Preps ballot on poll.fm, reads the athletes and schools shown for that week, and selects the option they support. Each option carries the athlete's sport and school, which lets a reader match the choice to the right team.

Those steps are the only mechanic the listing confirms for the series. Readers wanting general guidance on casting votes online can read the steps for getting more votes online before a new week opens. The steps stay the same across weeks, so only the ballot itself changes.

How does this athlete poll compare with the other North Carolina ballots?

The listing places this program beside six North Carolina athlete and player polls, including the Charlotte Observer athlete of the week series in its general, boys and girls versions, the Greensboro newspaper's player of the week poll, the Tatum & Atkinson scholar athlete poll, and the Fans' Choice 910Preps boys athlete of the year ballot. The Fayetteville series is the one tied to the Observer and the 910Preps brand.

The clearest contrast is the newspaper behind each ballot. The Greensboro player poll comes from a different newspaper, and the 910Preps boys athlete of the year ballot is a season award rather than a weekly series. This page keeps the weekly format separate from that award. Readers comparing the two should look at the ballot type first, then at the athlete group it covers.

How can a supporter back a weekly athlete poll without breaking the rules?

The honest way to back a weekly athlete poll is to share the live ballot with families and coaches who follow the schools listed, and to encourage readers to look at every option before choosing. Newspapers that run public polls expect that kind of attention, and it costs nothing beyond time.

Paid vote services are a separate matter. The Observer's terms decide whether purchased or third-party votes would count, and the published text does not settle that question. A reader who considers outside help should check the rules on the live poll and treat the sports fan poll guide as background, since no service can promise a placement on a ballot the newspaper controls.

Because the Observer's position on outside help is not printed, the safe standard is an honest vote per reader on each weekly ballot. Anyone trying to help a Fayetteville athlete should avoid software the newspaper bans and should check the terms again each new week. The legal position guide gives the wider framework for those decisions. Keeping the vote rules and the purchase rules apart helps a reader avoid mixing them up.