Best of Wyoming: How Voting Works & How to Win

Three best-of ballots, one state — and they don't share a database

Wyoming runs three separate readers-choice programs, not one. That single fact trips up more businesses than any rule on the ballot itself. Get nominated on the wrong site, and the customer base votes into a void.

This page covers Best of Wyoming specifically, run by the Casper Star-Tribune at trib.com/contests/best-of-wyoming/. It is the only one of the three with statewide scope. The Wyoming News group ballot and County 17's contest are regional by design, and neither feeds nominations into trib.com or vice versa. A Cheyenne bakery could win Best of the Best and still never appear on the Best of Wyoming ballot unless it was separately nominated there. See the Wyoming contest hub for the state's other fan-vote programs.

When statewide reach actually beats regional reach

Not every Wyoming business needs a statewide ballot. A Gillette diner with a loyal Campbell County following might get more value from County 17's Readers' Choice, where the whole voter pool already knows the place. Best of Wyoming matters more for businesses that serve, ship to, or draw customers from beyond one metro area: tourism operators near Yellowstone, statewide service providers, chains with locations in more than one city.

The nominate-then-vote structure (see the mechanics section below) means a business only shows up on trib.com's ballot after someone submits it during the nomination window. Skip that step and a strong customer base counts for nothing this cycle. So the real first decision isn't campaign strategy. It's whether Best of Wyoming, the Wyoming News ballot, County 17, or some combination fits the business's actual footprint.

Rock Springs, Sheridan, Riverton, Cody, and Rawlins businesses have no regional best-of alternative at all right now. For them, Best of Wyoming is the only readers-choice ballot in play, statewide or otherwise.

Who has won, and why this page won't guess

No winner names appear here. Best-of contests attract old screenshots and reseller pages claiming results that were never confirmed, or that expired years ago. The only trustworthy source for a Best of Wyoming winner, finalist, or category result is the Casper Star-Tribune's own published list for that exact year.

Trib.com does not release running vote totals during the open window either. That is a real limitation, not an oversight, and one shared by most newspaper readers-choice programs nationally. If a competitor claims a specific vote count mid-contest, that number did not come from the organizer.

Precise marketing language beats broad language once results post: "Best of Wyoming 2025 winner, Best Coffee Shop" holds up; "Wyoming's favorite coffee" with no year or category does not. Before results publish, "nominated" and "vote for us" are the only honest phrases.

How the ballot actually works, category by category

Best of Wyoming splits into two stages. Nominations open first; the public then votes on the resulting shortlist, all within more than 100 categories rather than one undivided popularity contest. Category labels are not fixed year to year (the Casper Star-Tribune resets some of them each cycle), so a business listed under "Best Casual Dining" last year could sit under a renamed category this time. Check the live ballot, not last year's bookmark.

The exact open and close dates shift by cycle and are set on the live ballot, not a recurring calendar date — this page will not invent one. For the mechanics behind award-style ballots generally, see this award voting overview; for how online voting works as a category, see how online votes work.

Building a campaign around ten cities that don't think statewide first

Wyoming is the least populous state, and its business customers usually identify with Casper, Cheyenne, Laramie, Gillette, Rock Springs, Sheridan, Jackson, Riverton, Cody, or Rawlins before they identify with "Wyoming" as a market. A statewide ballot works with that instinct, not against it.

Cheyenne and Laramie businesses need one extra sentence in every reminder: this is the trib.com ballot, not the Wyoming News group's Best of the Best. Gillette businesses face the same clarification against County 17. Everywhere else, the message can be shorter: category name, nominee name, and the trib.com link, sent through whatever channel already reaches existing customers, email list, in-store QR code, a line at checkout.

Jackson and Cody carry a wrinkle the other eight cities don't: a visitor population that outsizes the local one during peak tourist months. A hospitality business there may need a separate reminder track for out-of-town guests who won't recognize "Best of Wyoming" without one line of context. For a business-campaign framework beyond this page, see best business award voting; restaurants specifically can use this restaurant vote campaign guide.

Can you pay for reach, and where the line sits

Best of Wyoming is decided by public tally, which is a different situation from a judged or committee-decided award. Paid outreach that puts the nomination or ballot link in front of real Wyoming customers, people who already know the business, is a legitimate use of a promotion budget. What crosses the line: fabricated accounts, scripted or automated voting, or claiming "winner" status before trib.com confirms it.

No promotion vendor, including us, can guarantee a Best of Wyoming win. The result depends on category size, competitor activity, and the organizer's own review. Reach can be bought. The outcome can't. Businesses weighing promotion options can review the general real votes guidance or the general contest-vote playbook before choosing a vendor, and Wyoming supporters who also follow prep sports may recognize the Wyoming High School Athlete of the Week as a separate statewide fan vote worth comparing mechanics against. General contest legality questions are covered at is buying votes legal.