California Online Voting Contests

Bee's Best: Modesto Bee Softball Player of the Year

The Modesto Bee's own "Bee's Best" softball award, distinct from the Fresno Bee's weekly multi-sport version. Coaches nominate using MaxPreps stats, then the public votes. The 2026 poll is confirmed active and closes June 24, 2026, covering the Central Valley and Sac-Joaquin Section.

California High School Baseball Player of the Week

High School on SI (SBLive) runs two separate California prep baseball fan votes: a statewide poll covering all 1,700 CIF programs that closes Saturday 11:59 p.m. PT, and a Southern California playoff-specific poll that runs concurrently through the CIF Southern Section postseason. Both are unlimited manual votes with no account required.

California High School Baseball Player of the Year

Statewide California · High School on SI / SBLive (Sports Illustrated)

Annual statewide fan-vote watchlist award by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive) at si.com/high-school/california, recognising the top CIF spring-season baseball player across NorCal and SoCal. Free to vote, no account needed, editorial final selection.

California High School Boys Basketball Player of the Week

The High School on SI (SBLive) statewide fan vote for the top California boys basketball performance of the week. Editors at si.com set a field of roughly 20 nominees, anyone can vote with no account, and the ballot closes Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific — the same deadline that drives CIF postseason weeks into overnight surges.

California High School Football Player of the Week

Statewide football-only fan poll published weekly by High School on SI (SBLive) at si.com, drawing 26–34 nominees from every CIF section across California. Eimesse Essis of Tustin won the Oct 17–19 week. Unlimited manual votes; automated scripts prohibited. Closes Monday 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

California High School Girls Basketball Athlete of the Week

The High School on SI statewide fan vote for the best California girls basketball performance of the week. Twenty nominees drawn from every CIF section, anyone can vote with no account, and the ballot closes Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific — a tighter window than the football polls.

California High School Player of the Year

Statewide California · High School on SI / SBLive (Sports Illustrated)

Annual sport-specific statewide award by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive) at si.com/high-school/california. Fan-vote watchlists cover boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, football, and more across all CIF sections — NorCal and SoCal. Editorial staff name the final award; fan voting shapes the watchlist spotlight.

California High School Softball Player of the Week

High School on SI (SBLive) runs a statewide fan vote for the best California prep softball performance each week. Editors pick 10 nominees from across all CIF sections — NorCal and SoCal combined — and anyone can vote with no account. The ballot closes Saturday at 11:59 p.m. PT.

California High School Softball Player of the Year

Statewide California · High School on SI / SBLive (Sports Illustrated)

Annual statewide fan-vote watchlist award by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive) at si.com/high-school/california, recognising the top CIF spring-season girls softball player across NorCal and SoCal. Free to vote, no account needed, editorial final selection.

Fresno Bee Athlete of the Week

Fresno is one of three McClatchy Bee papers running a weekly prep sports fan vote in California's Central Valley. This one is called "Bee's Best," it pulls nominees from baseball, softball, and track, and any reader can vote free with no account, confirmed live via a Yahoo Sports syndication dated April 2024.

Northern California High School Athlete of the Week

Northern California · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Free weekly fan poll at si.com run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive), spotlighting standout prep athletes across seven CIF NorCal sections — Sac-Joaquin, North Coast, Central Coast, Central, Northern, San Francisco, and Oakland. No per-vote cap; automated scripts prohibited. Closes Monday 11:59 p.m. PT.

Sacramento Bee Athlete of the Week

Sacramento · The Sacramento Bee (McClatchy)

The Sacramento Bee (McClatchy) highlights top CIF Sac-Joaquin Section performers each week through editorial recognition. The Sacramento market's active public fan-vote poll is run by SBLive / High School on SI at si.com — free, no account, closes Monday 11:59 p.m. PT — covering Folsom, Elk Grove, Jesuit, Granite Bay, Del Oro, Rocklin, and dozens more.

Southern California Girls High School Athlete of the Week

High School on SI's girls-specific weekly fan vote for Southern California prep standouts. Distinct from the all-gender SoCal poll — this ballot focuses exclusively on girls athletics across CIF Southern Section, LA City Section, and San Diego Section. No account required; closes Saturday or Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific; automated scripts are prohibited and result in athlete disqualification.

Southern California High School Athlete of the Week

Southern California · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive)

Free weekly fan poll at si.com run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive) spotlighting prep standouts across CIF Southern Section, LA City Section, and San Diego Section each sports season. No per-vote cap; automated scripts prohibited.

Southern California High School Baseball Player of the Week

Southern California · High School on SI / SBLive Sports

High School on SI's playoff-season fan vote covering the CIF Southern Section — all nine divisions, eight counties, roughly 600 programs — with a Saturday 11:59 p.m. PT close. The statewide California poll runs the regular season; this one runs when the games matter most.

Southern California High School Softball Player of the Week

Southern California · High School on SI / SBLive Sports

The High School on SI / SBLive fan vote for the best CIF Southern Section softball performance of the week. Editors nominate 10 players spanning all nine CIF-SS divisions, anyone votes with no account, and the ballot closes Saturday at 11:59 p.m. PT — a full day before Sunday's statewide softball poll opens its own final hours.

Best of Central California

The Fresno Bee's annual Best of Central California readers-choice ballot, a nominate-then-vote awards program spanning 300+ categories that drew more than 1.2 million votes and named 713 winning businesses in its 2026 edition.

Best of Central Valley Business

The Business Journal's Best of Central Valley Business runs a reader-vote-only ballot at thebusinessjournal.com/bestofsurvey/, covering Fresno and the Central Valley, with its 12th annual 2025 edition drawing 160,000-plus votes across a September 1 to October 31 window.

Best of Lodi

The Lodi News-Sentinel's Best of Lodi readers' poll, run at lodinews.com for the San Joaquin County wine-country city, with 100% public participation and no selection committee narrowing the field before voters decide who wins each category. 2026 voting is confirmed running.

Best of Marin

Pacific Sun's Best of Marin runs a direct reader ballot across 100+ categories for Marin County businesses at pacificsun.com/best-of-ballot/, covering towns from Sausalito to Novato. No fixed vote cap or close date is published; confirm current timing on the live site.

Best of North State Community's Choice Awards

Redding, California's own daily newspaper runs the Best of North State Community's Choice Awards at redding.gannettcontests.com on the SecondStreet platform. Four editions are confirmed so far, 2023 through 2026, with the 2026 ballot combining nominations and voting on one page from July 9 through October 1, 2026. Past that window, the paper's own live ballot is what actually settles any category list or vote cap, confirmed fresh each cycle.

Best of OC

Orange Coast Magazine's Best of OC readers-choice program has run since 1974, pairing a public reader vote with editors' picks at orangecoast.com, and now includes Best of OC Legal, a confirmed sub-vertical whose 2026 edition covering legal professionals has already published.

Best of Orange County

The Orange County Register's Best of Orange County readers-choice awards span more than 200 categories across the county's cities, run through separate online nomination and voting rounds, with the 2026 cycle confirmed active in May and the program's public presence currently centered on its Facebook page rather than a dedicated voting microsite.

Best of Sacramento

Sacramento News & Review's Best of Sacramento pairs a readers' poll with editors' picks at bestofsac.com, a 25-plus-year tradition whose current post-COVID operating status is not confirmed in the public record available here.

Best of San Diego

San Diego Magazine's annual Best of San Diego readers-choice ballot, a public vote spanning more than 200 categories across food, drink, health, and city life at bosdvote.sdmag.com.

Best of San Diego & Best Restaurants

San Diego Magazine's Best of San Diego and Best Restaurants ballot spans roughly 150 categories across food, beauty, home, and travel, with one vote per category per person, fraudulent votes removed, and separate nomination and voting rounds each year ahead of the magazine's live August celebration.

Best of Santa Barbara

The Santa Barbara Independent's Best of Santa Barbara readers' poll, voted at bestof.independent.com rather than the paper's main site, spans roughly 221 categories, an unusually wide spread for a single-city ballot, with nominations opening in June, voting running July through August, and results announced each October.

Best of Silicon Valley

Metro Silicon Valley's Best of Silicon Valley is a write-in reader ballot at metrosiliconvalley.com, covering San Jose and the wider Silicon Valley region across more than 200 categories, food and dining, arts, services, nightlife, and cannabis, run by a longtime alt-weekly community institution.

Best of the East Bay

East Bay Express's readers' choice ballot for Oakland, Berkeley, and the wider East Bay, voted online at eastbayexpress.com/best-of-ballot/, capped each year by the alt-weekly's confirmed annual party and awards.

Best of the North Bay

North Bay Bohemian's Best of the North Bay readers-choice program covers Sonoma and Napa counties, run through a nomination round followed by finalist voting across 50 categories in arts, dining, and services, with results published at bohemian.com each year.

CommunityVotes Escondido

Escondido · CommunityVotes Escondido

CommunityVotes Escondido has confirmed two straight nomination editions, 2025 and 2026, on the CommunityVotes network's dedicated page at escondidoca.communityvotes.com for Escondido, California, in San Diego County. The live 2026 window runs August 19 through December 13. Past that window, this page finds neither a category list nor a vote cap posted. Confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

CommunityVotes Rancho Cucamonga

Rancho Cucamonga · CommunityVotes Rancho Cucamonga

CommunityVotes Rancho Cucamonga has confirmed two straight nomination editions, 2025 and 2026, on the CommunityVotes network's dedicated page at ranchocucamonga.communityvotes.com. The live 2026 window runs July 18 through November 8. Past that window, the page shows no category list and no specific vote cap; all the same, confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

CommunityVotes Redwood City

CommunityVotes Redwood City serves Redwood City, California from redwoodcity.communityvotes.com, organized by a partner working locally. Only two rounds have run so far, 2025 and then 2026, and the second one is over, the operator swapped in a winners page during June. Several details never made it onto the site, no breakdown of categories, no stated limit on votes per supporter, and no exact calendar date for either end of the window. Confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

CommunityVotes San Leandro

A San Leandro-based partner runs CommunityVotes San Leandro under the wider CommunityVotes network, publishing at sanleandro.communityvotes.com. This ballot has run twice, once in 2025 and again in 2026, and the 2026 round already wrapped in August. The live page shows posted results and notes that winner awards are being made to order. Category rules, a vote limit and the exact day-level dates all stay off the page; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Daily Bulletin Readers' Choice

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin's annual readers-choice ballot for San Bernardino County and the wider Inland Empire, hosted on the shared SCNG readerschoice.la platform. It runs as a sister program to the Daily News RC ballot in Los Angeles County, with results published each year in an Issuu digital edition.

Diablo Magazine Best of the East Bay

Diablo Magazine's reader vote for the Contra Costa and Tri-Valley side of the East Bay, covering Danville, Livermore, Pleasanton, and Walnut Creek, cast online at vote.diablomag.com with 2026 voting confirmed active and winners published in the July issue. A separate program from East Bay Express's Oakland-and-Berkeley ballot of the same name.

LA Weekly Best of Los Angeles

Annual LA Weekly readers-choice awards covering Los Angeles businesses, places, and people, with public online voting across 200+ categories.

Marin IJ Readers' Choice

Marin IJ Readers' Choice is the Marin Independent Journal's countywide awards, published as a Readers' Choice special section at marinijreaderschoice.com. The confirmed record describes the publication format; the vote mechanism and category list aren't detailed. It's a separate program from Pacific Sun's and Marin Magazine's county ballots.

Marin Magazine's Best of the County

Marin Magazine's Best of the County is a direct reader vote across eight categories at marinmagazine.com/best-of-the-county/, requiring a 10-vote minimum per business, with winners announced late July. It runs alongside, not instead of, Pacific Sun's and the Marin IJ's separate Marin County ballots.

Miss California International People's Choice Award

Unlike Best of Orange County's countywide business ballot, Miss California International's People's Choice Award is a pageant fan vote, run at misscaliforniainternational.com/vote/ under the title "People's Choice Award 2026 VOTE NOW." Two editions are confirmed, 2022 and 2026, with the current cycle's voting confirmed for November 2026 and the ballot page naming a Friday, November 6, 2026 event in Sacramento. Day-level open and close dates go unpublished on that page, and so does any breakdown of categories or a limit on repeat voting; confirm all three on the live ballot each cycle.

Parenting OC Readers' Choice Awards

Parenting OC's 22-year-running Orange County readers' poll, run at parentingoc.com/readers-choice-awards/, leans toward family, education, and household-service categories rather than the broad restaurant-and-retail sweep the county's other major program, the Orange County Register's Best of Orange County, runs separately through its own Facebook page each year.

Sacramento Favorites

The Sacramento Bee's public nominate-and-vote business ballot across 282 categories, now in its third year, with 2025 turnout topping 275,000 votes and 4,700-plus nominated businesses.

Sprudgie Awards

Sprudge Media's Sprudgie Awards, a global reader nomination and vote for coffee businesses across 13 categories, run at sprudge.com/vote with voting closing each January, and a 17th annual edition confirmed for 2025, unusual for a California-based outlet's award reaching entrants worldwide.

Ventura Community's Choice Awards

Ventura County's entry in the USA TODAY Network's Your Choice Awards franchise, run by Gannett at yourchoiceawards.com/ventura/ through a nomination round followed by a public vote, with 2025 winners already confirmed announced, part of a network that runs equivalent ballots across dozens of other U.S. markets.

Bark for a Cure! Pet Costume Photo Contest

Los Angeles · Scleroderma Foundation of California

Scleroderma Foundation of California's Southern California Chapter built Bark for a Cure! Pet Costume Photo Contest as a paid-entry, paid-vote fundraiser, and GoGo Photo Contest hosts it at gogophotocontest.com/barkforacure. Five edition years are confirmed, 2021 through 2025, and recurrence data points to a 2026 return. Entry closes November 1 and voting ends November 6 at 6 p.m. Pacific, at $25 per entry and $1 per vote. Neither a category list nor a voting ceiling is printed there; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Community Concern for Cats Calendar Cat Photo Contest

Walnut Creek · Community Concern for Cats

Walnut Creek, California's Community Concern for Cats runs its Calendar Cat Photo Contest at gogophotocontest.com/cc4c, a market address hosted by GoGo Photo Contest. Confirmed editions run 2025 and 2026; the current cycle opened September 14, 2026, with entries closing 10:00 PM Pacific on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Entering a photo costs $5, and the cat with the most votes lands on the 2027 calendar cover; everything past that stays confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Pasadena Humane Calendar Photo Contest

Pasadena · Pasadena Humane

Pasadena, California's animal shelter, Pasadena Humane, built its Calendar Photo Contest as a fundraiser and put the entry gallery on GoGo Photo Contest's site, address gogophotocontest.com/pasadenahumane2026calendar. Four editions, spanning 2023 to 2026, have run so far, and this year's calendar closed its voting June 30 at 11:00 PM PDT. The shelter ties every vote directly to its own fundraising, and entries drawing five votes or more earn a guaranteed spot in the following year's calendar. Judging categories and a per-supporter voting limit go unstated; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

San Diego House Rabbit Society Bunnyfest Photo Contest

San Diego · San Diego House Rabbit Society Bunnyfest Photo Contest

San Diego House Rabbit Society runs the Bunnyfest Photo Contest, a rabbit photo fundraiser for its San Diego, California shelter, posted at gogophotocontest.com/bunnyfest2018photocontest through GoGo Photo Contest's hosted service. Two editions are confirmed, 2018 and 2019, and the confirmed 2018 cycle notes that online voting ends September 20 at midnight PDT. Submission itself is free, and the society frames the whole contest as support for its shelter bunnies. Unlike Best of San Diego & Best Restaurants, which covers local businesses citywide, this contest runs one rabbit photo pool for one shelter. How many categories run, and how often one person may vote, is not stated; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.