VOTY 2011: It's Coming…

The 2010 VOTY Winner… Photo by Randy Stern

Though this site's name has changed, one thing has not: The VOTY.

For the uninitiated, the VOTY – known as the Victory & Reseda Vehicle of The Year Award – is the annual honor presented to the best vehicle reviewed and/or driven for this site. It is an award that V&R is proud to do to reflect on the site's coverage of the automotive industry through the experience of the vehicle itself.

Because V&R does not review every vehicle under the sun, the award may seem out of touch with the world. This award does not take its cues from the established publications in terms of trends and nods. But, if you read this site for quite some time, you will see where the nominees for this award will come from.

The process towards awarding the VOTY is as follows:

• Any vehicle reviewed on this site from November 4, 2010 to November 4, 2011 is automatically nominated. This includes any vehicle that was driven for an article posted on this site that was not formally reviewed.
• The nominated vehicle must be sold as a new product in the North American market (USA and Canada) as of November 4, 2011.
• Unless the vehicle underwent a new model change, prior VOTY winners are ineligible for nomination. The prior winners are: Hyundai Sonata (2007, 2010), Nissan Altima (2008) and Buick LaCrosse (2009).

• Nominees are recorded with pertinent data for scoring in comparison with each other. Scoring comes from technical data as well as a scoring system based on key points from the reviews or driving experiences. The total scores will be used to determine the VOTY winner.
• A public vote will ensue with all nominees listed via a Survey Monkey survey. The link to the survey will be provided on the V&R Facebook page, on @victoryreseda's Twitter feed, on Randy Stern's Google+ page and on here. It suggested that you vote once for your favorite nominee. Voting will take place from Friday, November 4 to Friday, December 2.
• The winner will be announced on this site in the first week of December, 2011.

The nominee list is being solidified as going to press. There's still less than a month or so to see who else will join this growing list of nominees. Stay tuned on here for the nomination announcement and balloting links.