And they’re off!

Voting is now open for the 5th annual Best of Salem readers’ poll.

You can find the ballot here – or in the “best of” banner at the top of the page.

This year we’ve added ten new categories (two more than the last time we updated you.)

The new categories are:
* best burger
* best salads
* best consignment shop
* best retirement home
* best middle school event (previously combined with elementary)
* best student-run school club or organization
* best community service project by a civic group or other non-profit
* best summer camp for kids in Salem
* most fun thing that’s happened in Salem in the past year
* best “hidden jewel” in Salem that more people should know about.

Those join more than 50 other categories, that include all the usual favorites — from best teacher and best rec league coach to best new thing in Salem in the past year.

The voting ends at midnight on Sunday, March 10 and we’ll publish the results on April 19.

Since our first “best of” in 2009, voting in Salem has increased elevenfold, so the competition has become 11 times as fierce. (Yes, you’re reading that right: We got 11 times as many votes last year as our first year!)

With that in mind, we have something else new this year: We have a way for businesses who want to launch their own “vote for us” campaign to download free materials. Just go to roanoke.com/bestof for those.

Here’s who won in 2012 and 2011 and 2010 and 2009.

Got friends in other places? We also have “best of” reader polls going on in Botetourt County,  Southwest Roanoke County and the New River Valley.