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With more than 54,000 nominations, The Selma Times-Journal’s annual “Best of Selma” contest is winding down its nomination phase with a record number of businesses and individuals nominated in multiple categories for the Best of Selma.

The annual contest, which has been a tradition in Selma for more than a decade, highlights businesses and people in Dallas County who are chosen by community members as the “best of the best” in their particular field of expertise, including best hair stylist, best banker, best lawyer, and best elementary teacher, just to name a few. The categories residents can nominate in include Food and Dining, Best Shopping and Services, Health and Fitness, Professionals, and Out & About. 

The top three nominees in each category will now move on to the voting round, where voters will have a chance to vote on the top three. The winners will be announced in a special publication in September. 

“We’ve broken a record with the number of nominations we’ve had this year,” said Times-Journal Publisher Dennis Palmer. “A total of 2,430 people submitted nominations, which is far more than we’ve ever had in the past.” 

Palmer attributed the massive increase in nominations and participation in the newspaper’s new contest portal, which can be found at www.selmatimesjournal.com/contests, which allows anyone to participate from their cell phone, laptop, or tablet. Participants also get the chance to win gift cards and other merchandise from local businesses. 

“This is the first of many contests we’ll be doing in the coming year,” Palmer said. “We’re already planning what interesting and fun reader participation programs we can facilitate that will help engage our community and assist our business partners with promoting their businesses.”

With the nomination round closing June 30, the next phase of the “Best of Selma” kicks off July 23, where residents will have a chance to vote on the nominated individuals and businesses to pick the top three.

“Given what we’ve seen in the nomination round, the voting round should be crazy,” Palmer said. “This is just another good example of Selma supporting Selma, and I can’t wait to see the votes start rolling in.”