Best of Northern Nevada

Well, here it is. Our biggest, weirdest, wildest issue of every year—here are the results of the Best of Northern Nevada readers’ polls. Conducting this contest is a sacred responsibility that we take very seriously. We’re proud to be your community paper and to act as a conduit for you to express yourself, a mirror in which to see your city reflected.

And yes, sure, this year, just like every other year, there are some perennial winners that make us roll our eyes, and some upsets that made us cock our eyebrows, but we don’t root for our favorites. We don’t limit the possibilities by using some advertising-driven nomination process. We just turn on the website and ask y’all to vote. How you vote, and who you choose to recognize, praise and honor, is up to you. The results might surprise us, but we’re happy that you choose to trust us with the responsibility.

Big shout-out to Kate O’Hara, the illustrator who did the artwork for the issue this year. She’s a Reno artist who’s had something of a break-out year in 2017. She also did the poster for this year’s Artown festival and had a couple of high-profile local gallery exhibitions, at Lasting Dose Tattoo & Art Collective and Never Ender Boutique and Art Gallery. We’re pleased she was able to include BONN as part of her busy schedule. And we love the job she did depicting different Nevadan animals for each of the sections. It’s really beautiful work. See a full interview with her in our 15 Minutes section on page 67.

The special, unique featured section this year was Cannabis. As Nevada’s recreational marijuana market has emerged as big business this year, it’s been great to see the cultivators, dispensaries and entrepreneurs of the cannabis industry step out of the shadows and into the spotlight alongside other local innovators.

Huge congrats to all the winners. We know that you—most of you, anyway—don’t do what you do just to get a little recognition in a silly newspaper contest, but we hope that winning your plaque means as much to you as it does to us to give it to you. (And speaking of that, we’ll give you your winning plaque for free at our Best Of Northern Nevada winners’ party this fall at the Nevada Museum of Art. If some weirdo calls you up and asks you to buy something to commemorate your win, you can hang up on him. He’s not with us.)

And last but not least, big thanks to the thousands of readers who took the time to vote. We appreciate it. You’re the best.