Besties Get A Makeover

Voting for the Bay Area Reporter 's readers' poll starts Thursday (January 29) and this year has seen a makeover in the contest.

Dubbed the Besties: The LGBT Best of the Bay, the poll aims to find readers' top choices in a variety of categories. The ballot, which is online and appears in the arts and culture section this week, has been revamped for the fifth annual incarnation of the contest. The ballot now includes nominees in each category, with an option for readers to write in their own suggestion. Previously, the ballot did not contain listed nominees.

Staff at the paper hope that the new format will be easier for readers to complete, thus increasing the number of ballots submitted. Categories this year include community, shopping/services, weddings, arts and entertainment, restaurants, nightlife, bar folk, and sex.

"For our fifth annual readers' choice awards, we've added a new weddings section as well as other new categories, and, while still allowing write-in votes in all categories, have nominated a slate of previous winners and new editors' picks," said Scott Wazlowski, vice president of advertising for the B.A.R.

Other new features include breaking out the museum and dance categories - now there are nominees for modern dance and ballet and museum and nature/science museum. For the weddings category, domestic and international vacation destinations are also up for popular vote.

The nominees are designed to allow for new winners in many categories, such as best LGBT fundraiser, which this year includes events benefiting the Horizons Foundation, Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation, National AIDS Memorial Grove, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, LGBT Community Center, and the GLBT Historical Society.

Nominees for best LGBTQ activist this year are: Tez Anderson, of Let's Kick ASS (AIDS Survivors Syndrome); B. Cole, of the Brown Boi Project; Alicia Garza, of #Black Lives Matter; and Aja Monet, of Tenderloin Pride.

There was an increase in categories encompassing the rich diversity of local events, venues, and people of the nightlife world, noted BARtab editor Jim Provenzano.

New this year is the best game night category, which includes nominees Miss Kitty's Trivia Night at Wild Side West; No No Bingo at Virgil's Sea Room; Name That Beat at Toad Hall; Trivia Night at Harvey's; and Bottoms Up Bingo at Hi Tops.
Aram and a go-go pup at Pound Puppy in 2014, at the SF Eagle. Photo: FBFE

Other new entries are unusual and themed nightlife events, from the horror-themed Dragula at SF Oasis (formerly at SF Eagle) to Kink.com parties to Pound Puppy at SF Eagle. Also new are the comedy night and weekly nightlife events, which feature nominees such as Comedy Returns (El Rio), Funny Fun (Club 21, Oakland), Big Top (Beaux), Mother (SF Oasis), and Sundance Saloon (Space 550/Beatbox).

In terms of personalities, there are categories for male and female DJs, go-go boys and go-go girls, male and female comedians, and male and female cabaret performers.

If you have a favorite drag queen and she isn't listed in that category, you can write in your own.

The winners of the Besties will be featured in the B.A.R. 's April 2 issue.

There will be several prizes offered in a random drawing of people who complete at least 75 percent of the ballot. The grand prize is a five-night stay at the Maui Sunseeker Resort with round-trip airfare provided by Alaska Airlines.

For a complete list of prizes, see the ballot. To vote online, visit www.ebar.com/besties2015. The deadline is midnight February 28.