StarNews Athlete of the Week Poll: How Voting Works & How to Win

What the StarNews Athlete of the Week Poll is and who runs it

North Carolina carries several publisher-run athlete ballots, and the StarNews Athlete of the Week Poll is the one that belongs to the Wilmington area rather than to Charlotte or the Triad. StarNews, the daily paper serving southeastern North Carolina, opens a fresh fan vote on Crowdsignal, the polling platform reached at poll.fm, nearly every week of the high school sports year. The ballot lives at poll.fm/17046036, and each edition asks readers to pick a standout performer from that week's games.

It differs from its siblings in cadence, in geography and in how openly the organizer invites repeat voting. The cadence is weekly rather than monthly or seasonal, with ballots running from September through May. The nominee pool is drawn from the schools around Wilmington, and recent ballots have carried athletes from Hoggard, Ashley and Topsail among others. And the organizer treats this as an open fan vote in print: its own instructions read, "Vote now below as many times as you like," which few companion programs in the state publish so plainly.

Confirmed editions and the published voting window

The poll's history runs longer than many readers expect. Confirmed editions are documented for 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026, each anchored to weekly ballots during the school year. The weekly seasons explain the spread: ballots only run while high school sports are active, from September through May, so the list of years reflects school-year cycles rather than a continuous calendar run.

The currently confirmed window closes on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026 at 11:59 p.m., per the organizer's own story announcing the poll: "This StarNews Athlete of the Week poll closes Thursday, Sept. 3 at 11:59 p.m." That same story states the vote is open now.

Results are visible too. One recent closing tally put the Topsail girls lacrosse nominee at 49% with the Ashley girls soccer nominee at 40%, showing that the page publishes percentages once voting ends.

What the organizer has not printed matters just as much for anyone planning a push. StarNews has published no eligibility fine print for nominees, no stated end date for future weekly editions, and no list of which sports will anchor ballots beyond the current one; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

How a supporter votes on the StarNews ballot today

Voting takes place entirely on the Crowdsignal ballot at poll.fm/17046036, and the organizer's published instructions mention no login. A supporter opens the link, reads that week's nominee list, which in past weeks has included athletes from Hoggard, Ashley, Topsail and other area schools, clicks the selection beside a chosen name and submits. Because StarNews's published instruction tells fans to keep voting repeatedly, a backer can return and repeat that click throughout the open window without any cap being applied.

Getting someone onto the ballot is a separate step. The nomination route runs through the newsroom: readers who want a top performer considered email reporter Michael Cuneo with the athlete's information and stats, and StarNews notes that many top performers will be nominated for the weekly poll. Nominees therefore change from week to week, which means any support effort ties to the current roster rather than to a fixed category lineup, and a new week can put a completely different set of schools and sports in front of voters.

How this ballot sits beside its North Carolina neighbours

StarNews's poll sits inside a wider North Carolina set of publisher-run athlete ballots, each anchored to a different newsroom. The Charlotte Observer Athlete of the Week covers the Charlotte market, with the boys and girls editions splitting that paper's field by gender. The Greensboro News & Record Player of the Week serves the Triad, the Tatum & Atkinson Scholar Athlete of the Week blends athletics with academics, and the North Carolina High School Baseball Player of the Week narrows to a single sport.

What makes the StarNews ballot different is its combination of weekly cadence, a Wilmington-area nominee pool, and an open repeat-vote invitation printed in the organizer's own words. A reader in southeastern North Carolina who wants to back a Hoggard, Ashley or Topsail athlete has exactly this ballot drawing from those schools each week; the Charlotte and Greensboro polls draw from different newsrooms and entirely different player pools, so support built for one does not transfer to another.

Strengthening support in this specific ballot

Support here is built on repetition, because the organizer's published instruction tells readers to keep voting repeatedly before the Thursday-night close. A backer who wants to strengthen an athlete's position can revisit the ballot daily, remind teammates and parents through the school's own channels, and make sure the athlete is even nominated by sending stats to reporter Michael Cuneo early in the week, since an unlisted performer collects nothing no matter how motivated the fan base is. Anyone weighing outside help should start with our votes guide, and the paid route is described separately on our buy votes online page. Neither path changes the published close of the ballot, so timing still decides whether an extra push lands inside the window.