The Best of Ocean City® Contest History
Each year, OceanCity.com hosts the Best of Ocean City® contest where visitors and residents get to choose who wins in each of over 30 categories. This is the only contest where money and advertising has no influence. Your votes, your winners. In addition, OceanCity.com has a panel of locals who come up with their favorite as an alternative to the people’s choice so readers and visitors to OceanCity.com have options in every category with experience and real opinions behind the information.
When we started this contest, we did it because my daughter worked at a West Ocean City hotel and said that the customers were always coming up to the desk to ask who had the best crabs, or where should they go for the best jet-skiing experience. She felt that this information needed to be accessible to the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Ocean City, Maryland each year. We immediately created the surveys and started the contest. That was in 2011. 11 years later, we are still hosting the contest with more votes, more information, and more usability than any other such contest or competition in Ocean City.
Last Chance to Give Us Your Vote
We will cut off voting to determine the 2022 winners on Monday, July 10th and will announce the winners in next week’s newsletter. Please use the links in this newsletter to make your final votes and see if you can get enough votes to push your favorite business to the winning position.
Photo Contest for the Best of Ocean City® Winners’ Plaques on Facebook
We started using photos printed on metal as the awards to local businesses who win in the OceanCity.com Best of Ocean City® awards. These are collectable images of Ocean City. The first year we used these metal signs as the award, we used an image of sunrise at the pier. The second year, we used an image of a jet-skier. This year, we are doing something different. We want YOU to submit images that are iconic to Ocean City in your mind. We will choose a winner and will need your high resolution version of the image so we can get it printed to deliver to all the businesses in town who excel at what they do. We will add you name to the plaque so you can find your image all over Ocean City. We are using our Facebook page as the vehicle for you to submit your photos in the contest. Please like our Facebook page and submit your photos. By doing so, you are allowing us to use your photo and are agreeing to give us a high resolution version of your image if you are chosen as the winner.
Best of Ocean City® Leaders
Right now, the current standing in each contest is available when you click on the poll you are interested in. All polls are listed here. Please vote, share the poll and get your friends to vote, and help your favorite businesses win! Change the rankings, find your winner, add a new restaurant that you like better in the “Other” section. We will tally all options and if the “Other” category gets more votes than any of the other options, we will see if the winner was a write-in.
For now, here are the top three polls in each of three categories:
- Ocean City Restaurants
- Ocean City Bars
- Ocean City Things to Do/Activities, and
- Ocean City’s Best of the Boardwalk
2022 Best of Ocean City® Restaurants
Going out to eat in Ocean City is fun and makes a vacation seem like a vacation. We wanted to bring you the Best of Ocean City® restaurants so we came up with 18 different restaurant categories. If you think we need more or different options, please let us know.
For now, here are the top three polls with the most votes. You can find more here.
2022 Best Pizza
We have 2 pizza contests – one is for pizza in general and the other is for the Best Pizza on the Boardwalk. If you think that a pizza place in Ocean City deserves this recognition, please vote and share the polls. They close on July 10th, 2022
2022 Best Breakfast
People obviously care about breakfast at the beach. Here are the winners so far. Bayside Skillet and Barn on 34th are really close: 19.24% and 18.35% of the votes respectively. Who do you think should win? Vote now to determine the best breakfast place in Ocean City!
2022 Best Subs
There are lots of sub sandwich options in Ocean City. Which is your favorite?
Other Categories for Best Restaurants
- 2022 Best New Restaurant
- 2022 Best Raw Bar
- 2022 Best Ice Cream
- 2022 Best Carry-Out Restaurant
- 2022 Best Seafood
- 2022 Best Waterfront Dining
- 2022 Best Crabs
- 2022 Best Crabcakes
- 2022 Best Asian Food
- 2022 Best Italian Food
- 2022 Best Mexican Food
- 2022 Best Wings
- 2022 Best BBQ
Best of the Boardwalk
Ocean City’s Boardwalk is what most people think of when they think of Ocean City. Located in downtown Ocean City, it hosts the most amusements, food stands, and shops in one area. It is also home to the famous Thrasher’s Fries. If you love the boardwalk, please vote for your favorite businesses. Here are the top three categories in terms of votes cast, but you can see all of them here.
2022 Boardwalk’s Best Fries
A lot of Ocean City visitors think that fries define a boardwalk experience. Thrasher’s is the king of fries in Ocean City so we originally dropped this poll because they always won by so much. That appears to be the case again this year. Why mess with a great thing, right? However, we decided to come up with some other options so when you are out to dinner and you have a hankering for French fries, here are some other options.
2022 Boardwalk’s Best Shop
There are many shopping opportunities on Ocean City’s famous boardwalk. Most people think Souvenir City is the best, but
2022 Boardwalk’s Best Stand/Small Restaurant
The Golden Plate has won almost every year since we started this contest. The the Karaman family retired this year, but the Kucuk family has taken on the business. Is it still the best or has the Alaska stand or Atlantic Stand surpassed the perennial favorite. You let us know!
Other categories:
- 2022 Boardwalk’s Best Caramel Corn
- 2022 Boardwalk’s Best Sit Down Restaurant
- 2022 Boardwalk’s Best Bar
- 2022 Boardwalk’s Best Pizza
- 2022 Boardwalk’s Best Candy
2022 Best Bars
Coming to Ocean City, sitting by the water and having a tropical drink defines the vibe for a beach vacation. There are restaurants with 1920s themed happy hours, there are hand mixed margaritas and the infamous Orange Crush. We even have local breweries that serve the best craft beer the nation has to offer. What is your favorite drink and where do you get it. Vote here
2022 Best Bar Overall
Here’s one of the polls in OceanCity.com’s Best of Ocean City® contest that gets some of the highest number of votes. Add yours, share with friends, make a difference. Is Seacrets really the best bar overall or do you have a sleeper favorite. Let us know. Vote now!
2022 Best Place to View a Sunset
Sunsets are frequently coupled with drinks and food with loved ones. Here are your votes for the best places to view a sunset. You have until 7/10 to change the rankings.
2022 Best Drinks
The Best Bar Overall may not have the best drinks, but it seems that Seacrets is in the running to win both categories. What do you think? This is your last chance to vote to determine the 2022 winners in the best drinks category!
Other Bar Categories
- 2022 Best Live Music
- 2022 Best Sports Bar
- 2022 Best Local Brewery
- 2022 Best Happy Hour Specials
- 2022 Best Local Craft Beer Selection
2022 Best Things to Do/Activities
OceanCity.com has revised our Things to Do Sections and added some information to help you find activities that suit the needs and desires of your friends and family while visiting Ocean City. You can buy discounted gift certificates and find events, but our Best of Ocean City® contest tells you which businesses provide the best services in each category. If you want the best of the best, check out the current rankings and if you want to change the final winners, vote NOW! Polls close 7/10.
2022 Best Rainy Day Activity
It always rains at least once while you are here so let’s find your favorite activities even when it is raining. I don’t see having a drink at the Angler on here, but that is pretty fun in the rain too. Vote now for all your favorites.
2022 Best Miniature Golf
There are a few companies that dominate the miniature golf scene in Ocean City, but that doesn’t mean your favorite has to be one of them. Since the majority of tourists to Ocean City play mini golf at least once, you must have an opinion. Which location do you like to play?
2022 Best Surf Shop
We know that the surf shops aren’t the activity, unless you like to go shopping. However, the shops have all the clothes and surfing paraphernalia so you are ready when the rain stops to enjoy surfing in Ocean City.
