(July 8, 2021 – Tampa, Fla.) – For the 31st consecutive year, Creative Loafing will celebrate the Tampa Bay area’s best during the annual Best of the Bay where locals can nominate and vote on their favorite Tampa Bay area people, places, businesses, events, and more. Open nominations will take place now through Thursday, July 29th, at 11:59 p.m.
Nominations will be gathered during a three-week-long open nomination period. Nominations can be submitted for a variety of categories broken up into: People, Places, Food & Drink, Arts, Entertainment, Goods, and Services. During nominations, you can write in any nominee and, this year, only the top 20 nominees will be announced during the voting phase from August 19th through September 9th.
Nominations can be made once within a specific category. This year, only the top 20 nominees will be included in the voting phase. Please keep in mind, Best of the Bay is all about local people and places in the Tampa Bay area. Keep nominations local. Non-local nominations will not be included in the voting phase.
After the nomination phase closes, voting begins on Thursday, August 19th, at 12 p.m. and will run through Thursday, September 9th, at 11:59 p.m. Winners will be announced in the annual Best of the Bay Issue, which will be released at the annual Best of the Bay Awards Party on September 30th.
To submit nominations, visit vote.cltampa.com
For more information on Best of the Bay 2021, including a complete list of dates to save, visit botbtampabay.com
About Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing is an award-winning alternative publication committed to providing Tampa Bay with an independent perspective, up-to-the-minute local news, and a comprehensive listing of local happenings. Creative Loafing offers readers’ unique events and CL Deals, a locally focused platform featuring dining and event experiences at half-off their regular price.
Creative Loafing recently launched a donation-based membership group to build a community around readers and supporters at a time that local media across the country has been struggling, and to help underwrite work in the face of the devastating loss of revenue caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In March 2020, CL’s parent company, Euclid Media Group (EMG), announced layoffs at each of its seven newspapers. In Tampa, seven staffers across editorial, production, events and sales were let go. CL’s small, but mighty, team is dedicated to bringing you up-to-the-minute news. To learn more about CL’s donation-based Press Club, visit cltampa.com/supportlocaljournalism
For more information about Creative Loafing, visit cltampa.com and cldeals.com