It cannot be said enough, 2020 was a hard year. A pandemic, racial injustice, lockdowns, attacks on the country’s election process, toilet paper shortages, Tiger King! But 2020 also brought with it inspiring and motivating stories of heroes who stood against all that was terrible and showed us that even during the most trying times, wonderful things can happen.
We want to know from you, our loyal readers, who was the most inspiring? Who was the most motivating? Who was the best of the best in the LGBTQ community? It’s time for you to pick the 2021 WAVE winners, but first we need you to tell us who will be in the top three.
The Watermark Awards for Variety and Excellence, or the WAVEs as we call them, recognize the best in Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ community in the areas of activism, service, entertainment and more.
There are about 50 categories to vote in. In each category, we ask our readers to write in who best represents the values of the LGBTQ community in your area. It can be any person, group or business that falls anywhere in our alphabet soup — including allies — as long as they have demonstrated their support for the community.
IMPORTANT NOTE: One vote per category per user. Multiple votes from a single user will be deleted. Each user must vote in a minimum of 15 categories to have their votes counted. Each ballot must include a valid email address.
Make sure when filling in your answers to include enough information so we can identify who, what and/or where you are speaking about. For questions asking for a person or group of people, make sure to put first and last name(s) of who you are voting for. For questions asking for “local” businesses, if there is more than one in your area (i.e., if you list Planet Fitness as your favorite fitness center) be sure to indicate the location of your favorite either with an address, district name, area or neighborhood.
The first round of voting, our write-in ballot, goes until 5:00 p.m. on Jan. 18. You tell us who as been the best of the best in the categories below. After the results have been tallied up, we will begin the next round on Jan. 22 at noon with the Top 3 from each category.
Good luck and let the first round begin!
