It's the moment you've all been waiting for, readers: The 2011 Cappie awards have made have made their triumphant return to the Insider, and now it's time for you to vote for your favorite things about Concord.
We know there's a lot to love about this great city: It's got swanky restaurants, a nice, walkable downtown, friendly business owners and shops aplenty.
Last year was the debut of the Cappies (which stands for capital-area people's preference), and it was a success; we heard from over 1,500 voters.
We learned a few lessons that carried over into the current awards. This year, we have 85 categories, down from 129 last year, which we believe – and our readers told us – were too many. We've also eliminated the survey from the paper – all the votes will be tabulated online (sorry, neo-Luddites, we learned how inefficient hand-counting was the hard way). We've also gotten rid of the nomination round; now you can vote for all your favorites with a few clicks and don't have to worry about coming back to make sure they win.
We'll announce the winners in our May 24 issue, so be sure to pick that up. In the meantime, you can cast your vote at theconcordinsider.com/cappies. For a handy link, go to our website, theconcordinsider.com, or visit our Facebook page.
We'd originally planned to launch voting for the Cappies on April 1, but we were just too excited to wait. The polls are open now through April 30. Be sure to spread the word, Concordians!
