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Due to overwhelming demand and participation, The LaGrange Daily News is allowing more businesses into the next round of its “Best of Troup County” contest.

The LDN has received nearly 100,000 nominations during the nomination round, just short of a 90,000 increase when compared to 2022. Since changing to its current format in 2020, the “Best of” contest has allowed the three most popular entries in the nomination round to move on to the voting round, where residents pick the best in each category.

That was the LDN’s plan for 2023 as well. However, due to unforeseen demand, the LDN is allowing up to five nominees to move on to the voting round in each category.

The language “up to” is used, as in some categories less than five businesses/individuals were nominated. There will be less than five nominees in those specific categories.

“There’s nothing more prestigious than being picked the best by the residents and communities you serve,” said LDN Publisher and President Daniel Evans. “That’s why this contest continues to grow every year, even beyond what we thought it might be this year. We’re glad to include more businesses and individuals in the voting round this year. With nearly 100,000 nominations, it seems unfair to limit each category to three nominees. As the community participation has increased, we’ve adjusted to be more inclusive in the second round, which only gives Troup County residents more great nominees to consider as overall winners.”

The winners of the contest will be announced in June. The voting round will begin April 17 and continues until May 9.