New Albany needs your votes in USA Today’s “10 Best Southern Small Towns”

New Albany chosen as Best Southern Small Town contender by USA Today

The City of New Albany has been nominated in USA Today’s latest 10 Best Readers’ Choice travel award contest, “10 Best Southern Small Towns.”

The city, which in the past few years has been included on a number of similar lists by national companies, such as TripAdvisor and theCultureTrip, received notification of the selection today.

Courthouse Dome, New Albany, MS

“We are delighted to be included among the twenty nominations the “10 Best Southern Small Town” category,” says Sean Johnson, the city’s Tourism Director. “USA Today has a great reputation and wide reach, so I’m hoping that our inclusion will generate some much-appreciated regional and national exposure for our city.”

New Albany is one of only twenty communities in the South and one of only two in Mississippi nominated by USA TODAY as “The Best Southern Small Town.”  The other towns span from Virginia to Texas. The other Mississippi town is Water Valley.

Abington, VA, Natchitoches,LA and Natchez are past winners.

The race is always tight and all votes are needed

According to the notification from USA TODAY, the nominations are submitted by regional writers within the Gannett Newspapers service areas.

Tanglefoot Trail, New Albany, MS

Once the communities are nominated, notifications are sent and then a month-long online voting process begins. Fans of particular towns can vote once per day, and winners for this year’s round will be notified on April 28. Coverage of the contest and the winning towns will then be posted on USA TODAY.

“Being named ‘Best Southern Small Town’ would be a great plus for New Albany,” says Johnson.

Currently, New Albany is in the lead in online voting, but there has been some dynamic movement between the other communities that indicates that these communities are rallying for votes. For instance, Water Valley moved from 12^th to 6^th place overnight. Eureka Springs, AR, Travelers Rest, SC and Madison, GA have been trading off for the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th places since the vote began yesterday.

Final reports on past contests indicates that voting has been historically very close.

“This could be big win for New Albany, but we will need to vote every day to get the number one spot – and let the world know what we’ve known all along.”

The voting link is below. Once a vote is cast, participants can see the leaderboard and check their town’s progress.

http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-southern-small-town-2017/new-albany-mississippi/

Voting ends Monday, April 24th, 2017 at 11:59am EDT and the winners will be announced on 10Best on Friday, April 28th, 2017 at 12:00pm EDT, then later on USA TODAY.