It's an exciting day for our community's busy businesspeople.

Proof of their hard work and dedication is covered from cover to cover in the Business Journal of North Idaho's Best of 2022 Winners Guide, found in today's Press.

"It's the celebration publication," North Idaho Business Journal Marketing Director Kari Packer said Tuesday. "It features all the businesses who won or came in second place in the Best of North Idaho."

Readers will enjoy seeing their favorites return for hard-earned consecutive wins. New names and faces are also featured, along with dual- and multi-first-place winners.

As business booms, so does the community's appreciation for the individuals, organizations and companies that show up every day to excel at the jobs they're called upon to do. Packer reported that 82,300 original votes, mostly from the Inland Northwest, were cast in this year's Best of Contest.

"That is with one vote per person for the entire voting process," she said. "It was huge. It gets bigger every year."

The 2022 contest yielded 816 entrants in about 160 categories.

"Every year we've tried to manage the voting so the winners were a true representation of the community's voice," Packer said. "This year was the first year we limited it to one vote per person the entire time. It was by far and wide what I would consider the cleanest 'Best of' promotion that we've had to date.'

Packer said no automated voting or voting bots were found in this year's contest, and no one was disqualified.

"Everybody played by the rules, which really is what our end game is," she said. "It's truly in the hands of the community, and I think that's where it belongs."

The Best of North Idaho competition has been the Business Journal of North Idaho's premier people's choice competition for more than two decades.

Packer said it's a huge endeavor for her team to undertake the competition every year and ensure each business receives the recognition it deserves. She gave a shout-out to digital press manager Laura Ratzlaff for laying out the pages, designing and creating the artwork for the Winners Guide.

"We want to give a special thank you to Laura Ratzlaff for all of her blood, sweat and tears that went into creating that publication," Packer said. "Another props to Sholeh Patrick, who tirelessly works with the businesses to create the content."

Packer said this is a time for local businesses to shine, for business owners to be recognized and for them to bask in appreciation from the community for going above and beyond.

Supporting local businesses goes way beyond voting, she said.

"It means shopping at these businesses, calling these businesses first," Packer said. "These are the businesses that donate to your kid's T-ball team, that volunteer for the senior center, that tithe at your local church. They employ your sons and daughters. This is where we keep our community in a place that we're proud of, that makes people all over the country want to move here.

"That's how we maintain it: We support our local businesses because that's really the heart and soul."