# Source: Best of State Nomination Page

**Type:** source
**Status:** Useful
**Confidence:** Medium
**Source Type:** official-page
**Publisher:** Best of State Foundation
**URL:** https://www.bestofstate.org/nominate
**Raw:** raw/best-of-state-nomination-page/2026-08-11-12c3dbb83a5f.txt
**Retrieved:** 2026-08-12
**Updated:** 2026-08-11

## Summary

The program's nomination form, which is where the award's evidentiary weight is actually decided. Three
things are on this page and nowhere else in the program's own materials with this clarity: the price of
a nomination, the fact that payment is a step in submitting one, and the statement that
self-nominations are reviewed identically to nominations by others.

## Useful Claims

- **A nomination costs $300 in most categories**, or $85 in the categories the category list marks with
  a star. The form labels these "Standard Category" and "Reduced Category".
- **Payment is step 2 of 3**: the form's own progress indicator reads "01 · Nomination / 02 · Payment /
  03 · Confirmation".
- **Self-nomination is explicitly equal:** "Self-nominations are welcome and reviewed identically."
- **The 2026 window closes March 15, 2026**, matching the mid-March deadline recorded in
  [the 2019 winners directory](best-of-state-2019-winners-list.md) for its own season.
- **Nominators choose their own major category and subcategory** from the ten divisions and the full
  subcategory list, and may attach supporting documents — up to 10 files of 15 MB each.

## Verbatim

> "Open through March 15, 2026"
> — Above the form heading

> "Tell us about an organization or individual who exemplifies the standard. Self-nominations are welcome and reviewed identically."
> — Form introduction

> "01 · Nomination / 02 · Payment / 03 · Confirmation"
> — Form progress indicator

> "* marks reduced-fee categories ($85) Nomination fee tier * Standard Category $ 300"
> — Fee selector

> "Reduced Category $ 85 For categories marked with an asterisk on the category list."
> — Fee selector

> "Attach PDFs, Word/Excel/PowerPoint docs, or images that back up the nomination — press releases, letters of support, portfolios. Up to 10 files, 15 MB each."
> — Supporting documents

## Reliability Notes

**These are 2026 prices and they cannot be back-dated.** The [2019 winners
directory](best-of-state-2019-winners-list.md) says only that "a nominal entry fee applies to each
nomination" and refers the reader to the website, so the fee for any earlier year is not established
by anything the wiki holds. Do not attach $300 to a medal from an earlier year.

**What the page does establish, permanently, is the shape of the selection.** A paid, self-nominated
entry judged on the nomination's own contents means the winner set is drawn from the organizations that
chose to enter and paid to do so. That makes a medal weak positive evidence about the winner and **no
evidence at all about anyone absent** — the interpretation this wiki applies wherever it mentions the
award, argued on [Best of State Awards](best-of-state-awards.md).

**The fee lines extract awkwardly.** The form renders the currency symbol and the amount as separate
elements, so the capture reads "$ 300" and "$ 85"; the quotes above preserve that spacing rather than
tidying it.

**No archive snapshot exists** for this route; the CDX index holds no 200-status capture of it. The form
is also a live application whose terms change each season, so this capture is dated evidence about the
2026 cycle specifically.

## Related Pages

- [Best of State Awards](best-of-state-awards.md)
- [Source: Best of State Award Categories Page](best-of-state-award-categories-page.md)
- [Source: Best of State 2019 Winners Directory (PDF)](best-of-state-2019-winners-list.md)