Raves & Faves Overview
Raves & Faves is BRAVA’s annual reader survey spotlighting the people, places and businesses that make the Madison area special.
Raves & Faves nominations and winners are determined by audience vote. No outside influence, including staff preference, advertisers, or affinity with BRAVA, affects Raves & Faves nomination or voting results.
BRAVA’s Raves & Faves issue (March/April 2026) and digital campaign may also include “staff picks:” short articles detailing some of the people, places and things in the greater Madison area that staff members deem overlooked and otherwise worthy of “Raves & Faves” inclusion.
These staff picks are not official categories and change every year. Staff picks are chosen by BRAVA’s editorial team, and are not influenced by advertising revenue, sponsorship or affinity with BRAVA.
Ballot nominations and voting
Enhanced listings allow for paid sponsors to submit their information ahead of the nomination phase. However, they do not guarantee appearance in the Voting Round or supersede voting results.
The ballot nominees are compiled from the businesses, groups and individuals with the most nominations from Nov. 1-23, 2025. BRAVA staff combines votes at its discretion. Misspelled or different spellings of nominees are combined manually.
Disqualifications
Nominations and votes may be disqualified if the Raves & Faves software or a BRAVA staff member identifies the usage of third-party programs to generate additional nominations or votes.
Nominees may be disqualified at the discretion of the BRAVA staff for reasons including nomination/voting fraud or eligibility.
Nominees may be disqualified for failure to adhere to Raves & Faves promotion rules, abuse or at the discretion of BRAVA. Nominees may also be disqualified for revealing results before an embargoed date.
The winners are the top vote-getters from the voting period. BRAVA lists the winner (first place) and top two finalists (second and third place) in print, social and online.
Results, notification, and outreach
BRAVA promotes the nomination period and final voting period in print, online and on social media.
Nominations
The BRAVA advertising and/or marketing team members, at their discretion and availability, alert nominees of their placement on the voting ballot. There are typically more than 350 nominees on the voting ballot, and BRAVA is unable to contact every nominee.
The BRAVA advertising team contacts nominees within a category (to be fair to each nominee) to the best of its ability.
BRAVA is not obligated to contact any nominee. Nominees and businesses seeking to be contacted by BRAVA are advised to email [email protected].
Disclosure of a nomination or win, or lack thereof, by a nominee within the embargoed dates, will result in immediate disqualification. You may also be disqualified from future Raves & Faves campaigns if BRAVA contacts you as a courtesy and you disclose information (verbally, in writing, or on social media) prior to the embargo end date.
Ballot results
BRAVA, at its discretion, may choose to reveal the full ballot results prior to the print issue date.
BRAVA may also reveal results in the following ways:
- Raves & Faves sponsors are alerted if they placed (winner or finalist)
- Potential advertisers are contacted based on the availability of the sales team to find contact information and contact the winner and finalists.
BRAVA does not release additional results, including the places of other nominees within a category, to any advertiser, sponsor or interested party.
Sponsorship
BRAVA offers sponsorship opportunities to businesses or individuals seeking branding and awareness during the nomination and voting campaigns. code. They typically include print and digital advertising place in the print issue, on BravaMagazine.com and within the nomination and voting ballots.
Awards & Badges
Raves & Faves winners and finalists will receive a digital promotion kit from BRAVA that includes a digital badge and information businesses and individuals can use to promote the results of the contest.