Newton County residents can now nominate and vote for their favorite events, businesses, civic organizations and more in The Covington News’ Best of Newton contest.

Voting opened Oct. 17 and will run through Nov. 21. To access the contest, visit www.covnews.com and select the “Best of Newton” tab located at the upper, left-hand corner of the page, or put www.covnews.com/bestof directly into the URL tab.

If you do not see your choice listed, feel free to nominate it as a new option. Nominations can be made by any user and will be approved by The News staff within 24 hours.

A free registration is required to participate. Registered users can vote once per day in each category up until Nov. 21.

Around 4,000 votes have been cast so far for the 400 nominations from more than 70 registered users.

Winners will be announced in the January, 2017 Best of Newton magazine.

Categories for the contest include community, auto and transportation, education, medical, professionals, business and food and beverage.

Community categories include booster clubs, churches, parks and non-profit organizations. Auto and transportation categories include towing companies, car washes and tire stores. Education categories include schools, teachers and administrators. Medical categories include orthodontics, internal medicine and physical therapists. The professionals category includes civil attorneys, insurance agents, pet groomers and photographers. The business category includes catering, barber shops, clothing stores and banks. The food and beverage category includes coffee shops, fast food locations, ice cream stores and delis.

To see a full list of categories, visit www.covnews.com.