Raleigh Metro Magazine has officially opened the voting for the monthly magazine’s sought-after “best of” Metro Bravo Awards showcasing reader preferences in categories ranging from favorite people, places, restaurants, retail selection and professional services.

Since 2000, Raleigh Metro Magazine has invited readers from the Triangle area to the coast to vote in the popular annual poll. Last year, Metro’s 150,000-plus readers cast over 4000 ballots.
“It’s great fun every year, but it’s also very serious,” said Metro editor and publisher Bernie Reeves. “We work hard to assure accuracy because we know how important it is for area businesses, restaurants and organizations to win.”

The Metro Bravo Awards evolved from the first “Best In The Triangle” readers’ poll Reeves initiated in the 1980s in his weekly Spectator Magazine, a cultural and general interest news magazine and the first city-weekly in the South. Spectator was the first publication to cover the emerging Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill “Triangle” community.

Voting for this year’s Metro Bravo Awards will end May 15. The results will be published in Metro’s July and August editions. Readers may vote online or by filling out the ballots in the March edition now on newsstands. The 2010 Readers Poll also includes a Facebook page where “fans” can share ideas about new categories and note updates and other details.