Your window on the Best 

Welcome once again to another ginormous, quirky and fun Best of Savannah Readers Poll special issue.

Every other publication in town does one of these competitions now. But ours is by far the most comprehensive look at what's hot and happening at the street level in Savannah.

And our winners are actually the winners. As in, whoever gets the most votes, wins.

Radical concept! But with us it really is that simple.

Because the annual Readers Poll is conducted with full integrity, it's the best available snapshot of the state-of-the-art of Savannah's cultural and commercial life. It's fun, but it's also quite useful to get a read on what's really going on out there.

For weeks we've been tabulating the votes to give you the results in this issue. Most of the winners receive a little one or two-line blurb, followed by a listing of the runner-up in that particular category (runners-up are often really good indicators of an up-and-coming name to watch in future Best of Savannah editions).

As in issues past, we've chosen to highlight some of the newer and/or more noteworthy winners with extended profiles. The writers of these profiles are identified at the end of the profiles. The august authors are Bill DeYoung, Jessica Leigh Lebos, Jenny Dunn, and yours truly.

As usual we have something special for the cover. And as in years past Geoff L. Johnson — who also won Best Local Photographer and Local Photography Service according to our readers — again delivers the goods.

Last week we had a fun shoot at 24e downtown, winner for Best Furniture Store and Best Window Display. Many thanks to 24e owner Ruel Joyner for his extensive hospitality and welcoming demeanor in providing the perfect set for Geoff's awesome cover shoot.