Yes. Get The Happening List badge for your website here.

How does voting work?
Voting is done 100% by the public. Voters will need to provide an email address. If that email address is found to be invalid, the vote will not be counted. One vote per email address. One vote per email address.

What happened to the results? I can't see them anymore!
Before the end of the contest (usually 10-14 days before the end), the contest will “go blind.”  We remove the ability to see the standings. Why?  Well, because the standings are calculated live and do not take into account the audit process.

My competitor just went from 1% to 80% of the vote! Or (the opposite:) I had 100 of my friends vote for me, and the standings haven't even moved 1%. 
To answer this question, let's revisit math class.  Percentages do not equal votes.  If there are 100 votes in the category, 1 vote will equal 1%.  If there are fewer than 100 votes in the category, it will be much easier to swing the percentages because 1 vote will equate to several percentage points.  But a category with thousands of votes will be much harder because many votes equal 1 percentage point.

How do you handle cheaters?
We take our job seriously.

In order to ensure fairness and accuracy in The Happening List competition, an extensive audit process is in place while tabulating the results. Please see below for a basic overview:

1. All voters are required to provide email addresses at the time of their vote. Ballots are programmed to count only 1 vote per email address.
2. When the vote is cast, the system will send an email to that email address to validate the vote.  Within that email, the voter must enter a numerical validation code in the ballot to complete the vote.  The owner of the email will have the ability to click a link and indicate if a vote was cast without their permission (Bucks | Hunterdon | Philly | Montco)
3. VERY IMPORTANT!!  –> We receive a notification every time a “fake email” is used.  A fake email address is one that does not exist, is abandoned, or is disposable/temporary.  If too many fake emails are used during the course of the contest to vote for you, you will undergo a live-audit and risk disqualification.
4. At the conclusion of the contest, Happenings Media performs an extensive audit of all email addresses, which takes several weeks.  AGAIN, invalid email addresses, email addresses created temporarily for the purpose of voting, disposable email addresses, role emails, and Facebook email addresses are not accepted and will be removed during the audit process.  Invalid email addresses are disqualified.   An additional IP address audit and other more advanced analysis techniques are used to ensure the fairest public vote.
5. Once the accuracy of all of the voters’ email addresses has been established, Happenings Media calculates the final results.

A Note on Unsportsmanlike Conduct

We are a small shop, and we cannot police the entire internet.  That being said, inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated and can result in immediate disqualification without warning.  Put simply, be kind.  Don't bully.  Don't get nasty with the Happenings staff.  No threats.  No negativity.  We just won't tolerate it.

Think of it this way (this is what they always taught us in business school):  if you wouldn't want it published on the front page of Bucks Happening, then it is inappropriate and it shouldn't be written.

A note on email manipulation

Facebook's email addresses or blind Apple email addresses are NOT valid and will be removed during the audit process. In addition, email addresses from disposable email systems a/k/a “email routing systems” will be disqualified (e.g. mailinator, yopmail etc).

When will the winners be announced?

The top winners of each category will be announced on this website in the spring (date to be announced). The Happening List winners will remain listed for the entire year and be given the opportunity to add detailed information about their business to the website.  Winners & finalists will also receive an official Happening List award.

Key Contest Dates