Maryland Online Voting Contests

Delmarva Now Fan's Choice Athlete of the Season

Eastern Shore of Maryland / Delmarva Peninsula · Delmarva Now / Salisbury Daily Times (Gannett/USA TODAY Network)

The season-ending fan vote from Delmarva Now / Salisbury Daily Times (Gannett/USA TODAY Network), run twice a year across fall and spring editions for Bayside and multi-sport standouts on the Delmarva Peninsula. The December 2025 cycle drew 15,000+ votes. This is a separate program from Delmarva Now's weekly Athlete of the Week poll, which shares the same sports desk and URL.

Herald-Mail Athlete of the Week (Hagerstown / Western Maryland)

Hagerstown / Washington County · The Herald-Mail Media (Gannett / USA TODAY Network)

The free weekly fan poll at herald-mail.com covering Hagerstown, Washington County, and the wider Western Maryland / Tri-State market. The Herald-Mail Media sports desk nominates standout high school performers each week, and voting closes at noon on Sunday. Run by The Herald-Mail (Gannett / USA TODAY Network), a separate program from the statewide SI/SBLive Maryland polls and from the Delmarva Now poll on the Eastern Shore.

Maryland High School Athlete of the Week

Statewide Maryland · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group)

Free statewide weekly fan poll at SI.com High School covering Maryland prep athletes across all MPSSAA public classes and MIAA private schools. Voting closes Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PT. Run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group).

Maryland High School Baseball Player of the Week

High School on SI runs a weekly statewide baseball fan vote at si.com/high-school/maryland each spring (March through June). The May 4, 2026 ballot drew 16 nominees — a deep field that ties the Maryland softball poll's count and spans MPSSAA public schools and MIAA private programs. Voters are limited to once every six hours, and the poll closes Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Maryland High School Baseball Player of the Year

Statewide Maryland · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group)

Annual end-of-season fan vote at si.com/high-school/maryland, run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group), honouring the top Maryland prep baseball player across both MPSSAA public schools and MIAA private schools statewide.

Maryland High School Boys Basketball Player of the Week

High School on SI runs a statewide weekly fan vote for Maryland boys basketball each December through March. Unlike the SI Maryland football polls, this one caps at one vote per person per six hours — which changes how a campaign here has to be built.

Maryland High School Boys Basketball Player of the Year

Statewide Maryland · High School on SI / SBLive Sports (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group)

Annual end-of-season fan vote at si.com/high-school/maryland, run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group), recognising the top Maryland prep boys basketball player across both MPSSAA public schools and MIAA private schools statewide after the winter season concludes each March.

Maryland High School Boys Lacrosse Player of the Week

High School on SI runs a weekly statewide boys lacrosse fan vote at si.com/high-school/maryland through the spring season (March–June). Unlike the football polls on the same platform, this one limits each voter to once every six hours — a hard cadence that changes how campaigns are built.

Maryland High School Football Defensive Player of the Week

High School on SI / SBLive Sports runs this statewide Maryland defensive fan vote separately from the offensive poll — a split introduced in 2025 that created its own distinct ballot, ballot URL, and winner each Sunday. Anyone can vote, no account needed, and the poll closes every Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Maryland High School Football Player of the Week

The High School on SI / SBLive statewide fan vote for Maryland's best prep football offensive performance each week. Since 2025, SI runs two separate weekly ballots — offensive and defensive — where one combined poll ran in 2024. Both close Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific; anyone can vote with no account and no stated per-person cap.

Maryland High School Girls Basketball Player of the Week

High School on SI's weekly statewide reader fan-vote for the top Maryland girls basketball performance of the week. Editors set the field; anyone can vote once every six hours on si.com, and the ballot closes Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific — meaning a disciplined six-hour cycle, not a one-shot push, decides these races.

Maryland High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year

Statewide Maryland · High School on SI / SBLive Sports (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group)

Annual end-of-season fan vote at si.com/high-school/maryland, run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group), crowning the top Maryland prep girls basketball player from both MPSSAA public schools and IAAM private schools statewide each spring after the winter season concludes.

Maryland High School Girls Lacrosse Player of the Week

High School on SI runs a weekly statewide girls lacrosse fan vote at si.com/high-school/maryland each spring (March–June). Editors pick ten nominees from across all MPSSAA classes and private schools; voters are limited to once every six hours — a cadence that rewards a school whose community shows up repeatedly across a full week, not just once.

Maryland High School Player of the Year

Statewide Maryland · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group)

Annual fan-voted Player of the Year awards at si.com/high-school/maryland, run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group), honouring the top Maryland prep athlete each season in sport-specific categories including boys basketball, softball, and girls flag football — statewide coverage of MPSSAA public and MIAA private schools.

Maryland High School Softball Player of the Week

High School on SI runs a weekly statewide softball fan vote at si.com/high-school/maryland each spring (March through June). The confirmed April 20, 2026 ballot listed 16 nominees, including two players from the same school — Boonsboro — appearing on the same poll simultaneously. Voters are capped at once every six hours; the poll closes Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Maryland High School Softball Player of the Year

Statewide Maryland · High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group)

Annual girls softball-specific fan-vote award at si.com/high-school/maryland, run by High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / Arena Group), honouring the top Maryland prep softball player at the close of the MPSSAA spring season — statewide, covering MPSSAA Classes 1A–4A public schools plus WCAC private schools. Voting closes Sunday 11:59 p.m. PT.

Baltimore Style Readers' Choice

Baltimore Style runs its own Readers' Choice awards online at bestof.baltimorestyle.com, confirmed live for the 2026 cycle. It's the city's third masthead-branded readers-choice ballot alongside Baltimore Magazine's and The Baltimore Sun's programs, with its category list and calendar not yet public.

Baltimore Sun's Best

The Baltimore Sun's annual readers'-choice ballot spanning 200+ local business categories across the Baltimore metro area, decided by a single online vote rather than a separate nomination round.

Baltimore's Child Readers' Choice Awards

Baltimore · Baltimore's Child

Baltimore's Child, a Baltimore-metro parenting magazine, runs an annual Readers' Choice Awards program spanning family-service categories such as pediatricians, dentists, schools, camps, toy stores, and playgrounds. Nominations open online each cycle and are announced most visibly on the magazine's Instagram, with no separate ballot URL confirmed.

Best of Annapolis

What's Up? Media's Best of Annapolis readers-choice ballot for Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, voted online each January-February at bestofannapolis.whatsupmag.com across 245 categories, with the 2026 cycle logging more than 45,000 votes and confirmed winners.

Best of Baltimore

Baltimore · Baltimore Magazine

Baltimore Magazine's annual readers' poll across dozens of dining, services, and lifestyle categories, with online nomination and voting rounds and winners printed in a dedicated issue.

Best of Frederick

The Frederick News-Post's Best of Frederick runs three rounds each year, nomination, a Round 1 vote, then a Final 5 vote, across hundreds of categories covering Frederick County. Six-figure vote totals are typical, and the program has run on a confirmed recurring annual schedule.

Best of Ocean City

Ocean City · OceanCity.com

Annual OceanCity.com readers-choice awards for Ocean City, Maryland businesses, run across dozens of polls in restaurants, things-to-do, bars, and boardwalk categories with combined website and Facebook voting.

Best of Southern Maryland

Annual readers' choice awards from Southern Maryland Newspapers (somdnews.com, Lee Enterprises), spanning Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's counties across four sister newspaper brands with a nominate-then-vote ballot.

Best Restaurants Readers' Poll

Baltimore Magazine's restaurant-only reader poll, run separately from the magazine's own long-running Best of Baltimore ballot, confirmed active for 2026 at a dedicated promotions page on baltimoremagazine.com. Category rules, any vote cap, and the close date should be confirmed on the live page each cycle.

CommunityVotes Frederick

CommunityVotes Frederick is a CommunityVotes readers' choice business ballot for Frederick, the Frederick County seat in Maryland, run at frederick.communityvotes.com, where 2026 nominations opened September 2 and stay open through December 27. Past that window, the page doesn't name a category list or a posted vote cap; as ever, confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Reader Rankings by The Daily Record

The Daily Record's statewide Maryland business-community poll, running nominations in May, public voting in July, winners announced in August, and a gala in October, covering Maryland-based companies across a range of business-to-business categories.

Tri-State's Best Community's Choice Awards (The Herald-Mail)

The Herald-Mail's Tri-State's Best Community's Choice Awards is a Second Street readers'-choice ballot hosted at heraldmailmedia.gannettcontests.com, now four confirmed editions deep since 2023. The Herald-Mail runs the program for Maryland; nothing published narrows its coverage to one city or county inside the state. The most recent voting window ran August 3 through August 18, 2026, and has since closed. No published roster of categories and no daily-vote rule exist on that page; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

What's Up? Magazine Best of Central Maryland

What's Up? Media publishes Best Of Central Maryland at whatsupmag.com, a readers-choice business ballot covering central Maryland rather than a single city. Five editions are confirmed, 2022 through 2026, and the page prints these categories: Food & Dining, Health & Beauty, Home & Design, and Retail & Professional Services. A per-voter cap and a separately confirmed round schedule are not published; confirm both on the live ballot each cycle.

What's Up? Magazine Best of Eastern Shore

What's Up? Media publishes Best Of Eastern Shore at whatsupmag.com, a readers-choice business ballot for Maryland's Eastern Shore. Unlike a clean year-after-year run, its confirmed editions skip a year: 2022, 2023, 2025, and 2026, with no edition confirmed for the year in between. The page prints these categories: Food & Dining, Health & Beauty, Home & Design, and Retail & Professional Services, while a per-voter cap and a separately confirmed round schedule stay unpublished; confirm both on the live ballot each cycle.