Readers in March nominated nearly 2,500 businesses, organizations and individuals as the best they are at what they do in the region.

Now they’ll be asked to narrow those nominees down to five in each category in the next stage of the journey to crowning the 2026 winners of The Marietta Times Readers’ Choice.

Starting Wednesday, people can go to www.mariettatimes.com/readerschoice to vote for who will advance in around 200 sub-categories celebrating the area’s best health and beauty spas, golf courses, coffee houses, hearing aid centers, pest control services, pet stores, lawyers, mattress stores and more. Voting for this round lasts until May 14.

Categories are organized among 10 overall classifications: body and soul, entertainment and travel, food and dining, health and beauty, home and garden, kids and education, pets, services, shopping, and vehicles.

Once the votes are tallied by an independent third party, readers can vote for the nominees in each category in June. From there, the 2026 Readers’ Choice winner and two finalists will be determined, with the results announced in July.

“We’re grateful to the readers for helping to make this possible and giving us even more nominees than last year,” said Lisa Northcraft, advertising director for the Times. “It’s your votes that will ultimately determine which of the many outstanding businesses and service providers in our community come away with the title of Readers’ Choice.”