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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Yesterday, the Jackson Free Press finalized the results of the Best of Jackson 2022 nominations ballot. Our readership named numerous candidates from the Jackson metro area for the contest’s 100-plus categories, and the top several for each one have become finalists. Voters may now cast ballots for their favorite locally owned businesses, service workers and more at vote.bestofjackson.com. Finalists who receive the most votes win their respective categories.

For votes to be valid, participants must vote in at least 20 categories. Ballots must include your real first and last name with a local phone number and email address for verification, if needed. Each voter must choose every vote on his or her ballot; similar and identical ballots will be investigated and perhaps discarded. Finalists are welcome to campaign by asking people to vote for them, but they must not offer financial incentives or discounts, set up computers or scripts with any votes pre-chosen, or ask to see someone’s ballot.

The ballot will remain open until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 24.

In response to feedback from previous years, music-related categories have been moved to a separate pop-up ballot, which will be announced in early 2022.

To ask a question regarding Best of Jackson, reach out via the contest’s Facebook page.

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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.