Residents have until August 21 to vote for their favorite businesses, leaders, hangouts and restaurants. The 2015 Good ‘Burger awards are currently underway.
Categories this year include Arts and Culture, Eats and Treats, Hot Spots and Hangouts, Community Conscious, Cool companies – small, medium and large – and the “Most Valuable ‘Burger.’”
Among those nominated for the Chamber-hosted contest’s top honor are St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman, entrepreneur Bill Edwards and Chief of Police Anthony Holloway. Studio@620’s Bob Devin Jones, Eckerd College President Donald Eastman, Chief’s Creole Café owner Elihu Brayboy, Working Women of Tampa Bay’s Jessica Rivelli, St. Pete arts guru John Collins, St. Pete Marketing supervisor Kim Tyre, Keep St. Pete Local’s Olga Bof and restaurateur Steve Westphal were also nominated for Most Valuable Burger.
Last year’s MVB went to All Children’s Hospital’s Dr. Jonathan M. Ellen. The year before that for the inaugural Good ‘Burger awards, HSN CEO Mindy Grossman took the top honor.
Some local “eats and treats” nominated include:
- Bella Brava
- Central Avenue Oyster Bay
- Chief’s Creole Café
- Harold Seltzers Steakhouse
- La V – Vietnamese Fusion
- Lucky Dill
- Noble Crust
- Ricky P’s Orleans Bistro
- Sylvia’s
- The Hangar Restaurant and Flight Lounge
- theAvenue
“Hot Spots and Hangouts” nominees are:
- 3 Daughters Brewing
- Al Lang Field – Tampa Bay Rowdies
- First Night
- Green Bench Brewing Co.
- Jannus Live
- Mandarin Hide
- Shuffleboard Club
- Sundial
- The Ale & the Witch
- The Canopy
- Tradewinds Island Resort
Arts and Culture hopefuls are:
- American Stage Theater Company
- Duncan McClellan Gallery
- Florida CraftArt
- Florida Holocaust Museum
- freeFall Theater Company
- Great Explorations Children’s Museum
- Morean Arts Center
- Museum of Fine Arts
- SPIFFS
- St. Petersburg Museum of History
- Studio@620
Community Conscious nominees include:
- Catholic Charities, Diocese of St. Petersburg
- Edible Peace Patch
- Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County
- Metro Wellness Community Center
- NE Exchange Club
- Police Athletic League of St. Petersburg
- St. Pete Free Clinic
- St. Pete Preservation
- St. Pete Pride
- Suncoast Center
- The James B. Sanderlin Center
- USF St. Petersburg
Cool Companies: Small (fewer than 10 employees)
- ActionCOACH Tampa Bay
- Banana’s Music
- Bayprint
- Cerulean Blu
- Furnish Me Vintage
- Gush Juice
- I Love the ‘Burg
- LED ProServices
- St. PetersBARK!
- The ElectricMarina Inc.
- The Iron Yard
- The Shave Cave
- Wannemacher Jensen Architects
Cool Companies: Medium (11-50 employees)
- CONCEPTBAIT
- Dermazone Solutions
- Eagle Datagistics
- Hollander Hotel
- Hotel Indigo
- Kahwa Coffee
- Lumastream
- Paradigm Learning
- Pinellas County Urban League
- Pure Natural Nail Salon
- Symphoni
- Tampa Bay Club Sport
- The Palladium
- The Poynter Institute
Cool Companies: Large (more than 51 employees)
- ASI
- Bankers Financial
- Bright House Networks Business Solutions
- C1 Bank
- Fidelity Information Services
- Genius Central Systems
- Great Bay Distributors
- HSN
- Jabil
- Kobie Marketing
- Raymond James
- SRI International
- Anthony’s Hospital
- USAmeribank
- Valpak
The nominees were chosen by a committee of volunteers with the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. They chose 97 total nominees selected out of suggestions from the more than 1,000 chamber members.
“We’d like to think of our nominations as a ‘love note’ from the Chamber on behalf of citizens of St. Pete,” the contest’s web page reads.
Winners will be announced September 3 at Jannus Live from 6-9 p.m. Tickets are $10 if bought online before August 21. After that they’re $15 for Chamber members and $20 for non-members.
