Here are the facts: From the nominees in the first round to the top 10 finalists in the voting round to the top three winners you’ll find in this issue, everyone in this year’s Best of Pittsburgh was decided by Pittsburgh City Paper readers.

What sets City Paper’s poll apart from others? Besides the obnoxiously large number of categories (yeah, we know — we keep trying to edit them down, but every year, we hear from readers who tell us we’ve missed some important ones), the Best of Pittsburgh is 100% determined by reader input. We use SecondStreet, an online voting platform, which automatically tabulates the results. No, City Paper staff members aren’t allowed to vote. And no, despite rumors which have existed since the poll first launched 30 years ago, no one can win a category by buying an ad. (But yes, winners are notified before this issue hits the stands and our sales team does sell them ads, which help support our local journalism throughout the rest of the year.)

What we do, though, is fact-check your noms. And we don’t just check them for spelling errors or to make sure you actually nominated Pittsburgh folks. We spend months checking each entry and eliminate any nomination we find to have posted anything racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamaphobic, transphobic, or harmful to others. We also listen to your feedback and adjust the categories before the poll starts every year based on your recommendations. Did we miss a category you’d like to see next year? Spot one you’d rather we delete? Reach out and let us know. This is your poll, after all, and we aim to have each year’s poll better than the last.

Why the space theme? Well, besides making this issue look cool as hell, there are space-themed events happening all over the city this year. For one, Pittsburgh is home to the Allegheny Observatory in Riverview Park and a planetarium at the Carnegie Science Center, where yinzers can dream of life in another galaxy. The Science Center also just launched a new exhibit, Sun, Earth Universe, focusing on the solar system, the universe, and “the big questions NASA is trying to answer about each.” In November, the Center will also debut its Mars: The Next Giant Leap exhibit, which explores the possibilities of traveling to and living on the Red Planet. But mostly, we were inspired by the Moonshot Museum, Pennsylvania’s first-ever space museum, opening soon in the North Side. We can’t wait to see if it ends up on next year’s winners' list.

For the past decade, there’s been nothing short of a crisis in our state capital.

More and more of Pennsylvania’s sprawling and costly bureaucracy operated without scrutiny from investigative reporters, the watchdogs tracking how our hard-earned tax dollars are spent and demanding answers from lawmakers about waste, fraud, and abuse. 

Together, we can restore accountability. 

I’m proud to introduce you to Spotlight PA, a statewide and member-funded newsroom based in Harrisburg with the mission of holding the powerful in Pennsylvania to account through independent, nonpartisan investigative and public-service journalism. 

Spotlight PA is an unprecedented collaboration born of the grit and determination that makes our state great, and it now provides high-quality state government and statewide reporting at no cost to more than 90 community newsrooms across Pennsylvania. And we continue to grow. 

Today, we’re excited to announce an expansion to provide greater access to our independent journalism throughout Pittsburgh via a new partnership with Pittsburgh City Paper.

Spotlight PA is built on the belief that the public will support unique, high-quality investigative journalism you can’t get anywhere else. In doing so, we can build a new path forward for local news in Pennsylvania that’s sustainable and puts the community first. 

If you value independent, nonpartisan journalism and want to support access to it throughout Pittsburgh, you can make a gift of any amount to Spotlight PA now at spotlightpa.org/donate 

Spotlight PA’s growing team of nearly a dozen reporters includes Pennsylvania veterans and other accomplished journalists recruited from across the state and the U.S. 

Spotlight PA is now the single largest statewide newsroom in Pennsylvania dedicated to producing accountability journalism about the state government and urgent statewide issues. 

Our journalists are assigned to cover specific state departments, commissions, and agencies, as well as topics of statewide importance, from criminal justice to voting, economic development to politics. Many of these areas have gone without serious scrutiny for years. Spotlight PA reporters have the time, resources, and mandate to be fearless in their pursuit of the truth. 

Far from just providing the news, we connect and engage with you through innovative digital storytelling, creative partnerships, community events, and more.

Financial support for Spotlight PA comes from a unique coalition of state and national funders that recognize the importance that decisions made in Harrisburg have on their communities, from Erie to Scranton, Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. 

They also know and agree that our work must be independent and free from influence. Spotlight PA retains full editorial control, and our funders have no say whatsoever in which stories we pursue or how we pursue them. We do not accept anonymous donations, and all of our supporters are listed publicly at spotlightpa.org/support 

Spotlight PA was formed to serve you, the public, and we want you to be a part of our efforts. Many of the best investigations start with a call or email from a concerned reader. If you have tips or suggestions for an investigation, please visit spotlightpa.org/tips to see the various secure ways you can communicate with our team. 

After having lived in Pennsylvania for more than a decade, I’m proud to be leading such an ambitious effort to provide the people of this state with more of the high-quality investigative and public-service journalism we all need. Together, we can hold the powerful to account. 

Learn more about Spotlight PA and how to support our investigative journalism at spotlightpa.org/donate

---

Christopher Baxter is the executive director and editor-in-chief of Spotlight PA