Best of St. John

Here are the results of the the annual balloting for for the "Best" of the islands. 

The Virgin Islands Daily News invited businesses to nominate themselves for the January ballot distribution.  (A commenter on this post, however, said the Daily News requires payment of a fee to be included on the ballot.  However, Ruth, of St. John Spice replied to that comment saying, it's not true.  "No one pays to register. This has been the case for at least two or three years," she wrote.

The paper identified 154 different categories for competition.  They included island needs such as A/C Refrigeration, Custom Embroidery, and tourist-focused services like Breakfast, Wine List and Fresh Fruit.

This year, the Daily News published separate editions with island-specific results. All the better to generate more advertising when you do it island by island.  Instead of one "Best Of" edition, you have three.  The St. John issue has 36 pages, three of which are the results, and 32 of which are advertising from the happy winners showing off their award certificates.  Of course, it's still a good resource if you're planning a visit to the island.

Here are a few of this year's "Best" winners:

• Bar/no live entertainment: Skinny Legs
• Bar/with live entertainment: Beach Bar
• Wine selection: Pine Peace
• Chef: Chris, Asolare Walter Hinds, Stone Terrace (R.I.P.)
• Gourmet Dining: Stone Terrace (R.I.P)
• Chinese: China Shack (R.I.P.)
• Beach: Maho Bay
• Gift Shop: Caravan Gallery
• Day Sail: Wayward Sailor
• Real Estate Agent: B.J. Harris

Here's the St. John "Best Of" issue: http://bestofstj2008.vidaily.com/.

Comments

[Patricia]

This is my first day back from STJ -- and we're already making plans for return (year 21!) We really missed Stone Terrace :-( But I'm confused about the China Shack RIP, which I had read about here before -- we ordered in from China Shack last Wednesday!

[Ruth]

Posted by stj_snewz:
"What no one mentions is that you have to pay the VI Daily News to even get listed on the ballot. Seems kind of scammy to me."

No one has mentioned this because it is not true. This is Old Snewz. No one pays to register. This has been the case for at least two or three years.

[Frank Barnako]

Thanks for the comment. I've included it in the item, now.

Frank

[stj_snewz]

What no one mentions is that you have to pay the VI Daily News to even get listed on the ballot. Seems kind of scammy to me.

[MiMi]

If you like to swim..Maho is the best beach on the island. It is a safe haven, nestled in the heart of St. John's row of Beautiful beaches...Hawksnest, Trunk, Maho..

I was happy to see that you agree that Maho is the Best....a swimmer's paradise. Can't wait to visit again.