The Idaho’s Best Awards, are not like any other in Idaho. We go to great lengths to ensure we deliver the most accurate and fair results possible.

There are four stages of the Idaho’s Best Awards that span several months.

Stage 1 – Nominations

  • Idaho residents can nominate an eligible candidate for any Idaho’s Best category.
  • For our 2023 awards, the nomination period is January 2-13, 2023.
  • A candidate only needs to be nominated once to make it on our radar.
  • Nominations are subject to approval by Inbound Systems to ensure the category is relevant to the candidate.
  • Primarily based on reviews over the last year, we will announce up to 3 candidates per category per region at the end of January. Only these candidates will advance to Stage 2 as nominees.
  • IMPORTANT: Once you have been named as an official nominee, be sure to claim your nomination by March 8, 2023! Candidates that do so are the first to receive important notifications and may be given preference in the final results (i.e. tie breakers).

Stage 2 – Voting

  • Idaho residents can nominate an eligible candidate for any Idaho’s Best category.
  • For our 2023 awards, the voting period is February 20 – March 8, 2023.
  • To retain the most reliable results, participants are restricted to one vote per category. Participants may vote for the same company more than once IF it’s in a different category.
  • The top three to five nominees with the highest score in each category (averaged, if multiple locations) move onto Stage 3 as finalists.
  • Finalists will be announced on our website as soon as we are able to verify the results.
  • To obtain votes, nominees may share the voting page via email, social media, radio ads, etc. Nominees may not incentivize or pay for votes.

Stage 3 – Reputation

  • This is where the Idaho’s Best Awards shine! Rather than just a popularity contest of votes, we also count online reviews. Specifically, we’ll capture the previous 12 calendar months of online reviews leading up to March 8, 2023.
  • A finalist’s overall rating and the number of 5-star reviews (averaged, if multiple locations) on Google are included in the equation. Basically, the higher the rating and the more 5-star reviews received, the better the chances are of winning.
  • We will also reference data from the Better Business Bureau to make sure only the best businesses are crowned the winners. BBB Accreditation does not influence results.
  • Because reviews are more difficult to obtain, we give them more value in the final calculation. Our simplified formula for determining the winners of each category:

5-Star Reviews x Overall Rating + Votes

Stage 4 – Winners

Awards will be given on a statewide and regional basis. The regions are Central Idaho, Eastern Idaho, Panhandle, and Treasure Valley.

Once the votes and reviews have been tallied, and we’ve checked the BBB ratings of each finalist, we will reveal who they are on our website within a couple of weeks after voting is over.

We will first announce the winners at our Idaho’s Best Awards Ceremony, currently scheduled for the evenings of April 18-19, 2023 in Boise.

If you’re a finalist, be sure to get your tickets as soon as they become available! We expect to sell out very quickly. At the ceremony, expect to be entertained while you enjoy drinks and a dessert as we announce the winners live and on stage. It really is a great time!

For those who are not able to attend the event, we will also announce the winners here on our website within a few business days.

Finally, we’ll announce the finalists and winners in our annual Idaho’s Best Magazine that is scheduled to be published within a couple of months after the awards ceremony.

NOTE: We reserve the right to update and/or clarify these guidelines at our own discretion and without notice. Check back for updates.