FFXnow Readers' Choice: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the FFXnow Readers' Choice program and who runs it?

FFXnow Readers' Choice is the readership award franchise of FFXnow, the hyperlocal news outlet covering Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. Poll pages on the site carry a 2026 copyright line for Local News Now LLC, the company behind the masthead.

The organizer introduces the program on its own hub: "Welcome to the FFXnow Readers' Choice awards, which highlight Fairfax's best businesses, organizations, services and things to do." That places the franchise squarely in the best-of vertical with a business tilt, and balloting stays on ffxnow.com itself rather than on an outside polling vendor.

The featured ballot is The Best Barbershop in Fairfax. Its setup reads, "Whether you're looking for a fancy fade or a basic clean shave, Fairfax County has a variety of barbershops that can get the job done," and continues by noting the field ranges "from a franchise of a national chain to family-owned shops" promising efficient, professional services in a friendly environment.

Why the publisher matters

Because FFXnow both publishes and hosts the vote, the program's windows, rules and announcements move at the pace of a single local newsroom rather than a national contest platform. Anyone dealing with the ballot deals directly with the outlet's own pages.

When has the Readers' Choice poll run and what does the 2026 record show?

Confirmed coverage for this program spans 2025 and 2026. Inside the 2026 cycle, the barbershop question ran its voting window in February, and the page displayed a last-updated stamp of Feb. 27, 2026 late in that stretch.

Day-level opening and closing clocks are a separate matter. FFXnow does not print them on the ballot text, so a supporter planning a final push cannot pin the cutoff from the page alone. Nor is the full slate of categories for the wider program laid out beside the barbershop question, nor any wording on vote frequency or who may take part; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

The cadence is annual rather than weekly, meaning each fresh cycle brings new questions to answer instead of a standing weekend fixture. Should the yearly pattern continue, 2027 is the natural landing point for the next round.

How does a supporter actually cast a vote on the barbershop ballot?

Voting follows a straight line. A visitor loads The Best Barbershop in Fairfax at its address on ffxnow.com, reads the short description of the county's shops, picks the nominee worth backing and sends the choice off. The page operates as a simple public vote: no fee appears anywhere on it, and the publisher's own site is the entire venue.

Since the ballot rests at the publisher's address, there is no third-party widget to load and no external polling brand to trust. What the page leaves unsaid is the after-vote behavior: whether a visitor may return and choose again the same day, and whether any sign-in stands between a person and another submission. FFXnow keeps those details off this particular ballot.

Practical advice follows from the shape of the thing. Vote from whatever device is at hand, expect the question to rotate with each new poll, and treat the ballot's own printed text as the final authority on anything it does or does not permit.

Where does this ballot sit among Virginia's other reader votes?

Fairfax County readers have plenty of company across Virginia. Programs running alongside this one include Best of Arlington, the BroadwayWorld NOVA Awards and the BroadwayWorld Central Virginia Awards for theater, plus Best of Coastal Virginia Magazine, Best of Charlottesville and the Daily Progress Charlottesville Readers' Choice.

What makes the FFXnow version distinct

Each FFXnow poll concentrates on a single local question, barbershops being the live case, instead of publishing a wide multi-category book all at once. The publisher also threads seasonal ballots through the year; on its fall activities poll the site cautioned readers, "Voting will close in two weeks. Be sure to cast your vote before 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 25." That habit of announcing a firm morning cutoff well ahead is characteristic of how the outlet manages its reader votes.

Measured against the broader Virginia set, the Fairfax ballot stands apart in naming county businesses as its nominees, which matters most to a shop whose customer base is entirely local.

How can a Fairfax barbershop gather more reader support?

A shop on this ballot wins the way any nominee on a publisher-run reader poll does: by giving loyal customers a reason to actually follow through. Casting the vote is a quick, free action, so the real hurdle is reach rather than effort. Share the direct ballot link with clients in the chair, on receipts and across the shop's social channels while a February-style window is open.

FFXnow prints no solicitation guidance beside the barbershop question, so a shop wanting certainty about outreach rules should raise it with the newsroom directly. How to get more votes online collects tactics suited to a hyperlocal poll of this size, and the award votes page explains what a purchased boost involves for contests shaped like this one. Neither path changes how the organizer tallies; both simply widen the funnel feeding it.