Honored. Thrilled. Ecstatic. Invigorated. Blessed. These are just some of the adjectives that past Bethpage Best of Long Island contest winners have used to describe winning their titles over the years.
For mom-and-pop shops competing against large corporations and internet-based retailers for customers, just how much earning a Best of LI title boosts business may be difficult to quantify. But prior winners have abundant anecdotal evidence of how much it helps raise both their profile and their bottom line.
“The exposure of being voted the Best Botox Practice and Day Spa of Long Island has tremendously increased my business,” says Dr. Kelly Mattone of Medical Aesthetic Studio in Great Neck, who won in 2019.
Mattone is one of the dozens of people, businesses, nonprofits, and other entities that won Best of LI titles in categories ranging from pets to restaurants last year. Winners of the 2020 contest were announced in February. Nominations are now being accepted for contenders in the 2021 contest.
“It’s an extraordinary honor to have been chosen as Best Arts School on Long Island,” says American Theater Dance Workshop. “After 25 years working on Broadway, it’s our passion to share our vast experience with the next generation of LI dancers and performers.”
Some winners reacted as if they had won the Super Bowl.
“I thank God every day for being blessed to be the number one Matchmaker on Long Island,” says MTN Matchmaking’s Maureen Tara Nelson. “I absolutely love what I do and winning this award means the world to me and my team!”
Erin Colton, the News12 Long Island anchor who once won Best Reporter on Long Island, said it best when she emceed the 2019 party for the contest winners.
“There’s a ton of awards … there’s awards for everything now,” she said. “But this is an award that is so cool for so many different reasons because people in our community vote for it. Who doesn’t want that? So, I would throw away all the other awards except for this one because people you live with, people you respect, and people within your community think that you are good enough to win. So give yourselves a round of applause for that.”
To find all the other 2020 Bethpage Best of Long Island contest winners, visit bestoflongisland.com Nominate for your favorite businesses and people in the 2021 Bethpage Best of Long Island program starting Jan. 1 through Aug. 31.
