City Life Readers’ Pick Winners: Best in the Nest 2021
Best of Charlotte's city life chosen by the readers of Queen City Nerve
Best in the Nest Readers’ Picks were chosen exclusively by readers through a one-month nomination process followed by a one-month voting process. The nominations were not tampered with by Queen City Nerve staff at all — save for removing ourselves from a few categories to proactively dispel any notions of favoritism. In other words, if you disagree with these ones, that’s on your fellow reader, not us.
CITY LIVING
BEST APARTMENT COMPLEX
Winner: The Vue
Runner Up: The Gibson
BEST AREA TO LIVE
Winner: Plaza Midwood
Runner Up: NoDa
BEST CHURCH
Winner: Myers Park Baptist Church
Runner Up: The Cathedral of St. Patrick
BEST CITY IMPROVEMENT
Winner: Greenways
Runner Up: Parkwood Avenue bike lanes/traffic calming – CDOT
BEST CO-WORKING SPACE
Winner: Hygge
Runner Up: Advent Coworking
BEST HOTEL
Winner: Grand Bohemian
Runner Up: Dunhill Hotel
BEST LOCAL COLLEGE
Winner: UNC Charlotte
Runner Up: Central Piedmont Community College
BEST NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECT
Winner: CityLYNX Gold Line
Runner Up: The Line South End
BEST PARK IN CHARLOTTE
Winner: Freedom Park
Runner Up: Romare Bearden Park
BEST PLACE FOR A STAYCATION
Winner: Grand Bohemian
Runner Up: Ballantyne Hotel
BEST PLACE TO GET HITCHED
Winner: McGill Rose Garden
Runner Up: Mint Museum Uptown
BEST PLACE TO HOLD AN EVENT
Winner: Camp North End
Runner Up: The Barrel Room at Triple C
BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH
Winner: U.S. National Whitewater Center
Runner Up: Optimist Hall
BEST PLACE TO WORK
Winner: Tip Top Daily Market
Runner Up: UNC Charlotte
BEST BUILDING IN THE UPTOWN SKYLINE
Winner: Duke Energy Building
Runner Up: Bank of America Tower
BEST WAY TO GET AROUND WITHOUT A CAR
Winner: Biking
Runner Up: Walking
WORST PLACE TO WORK
Winner: Any restaurant owned by Jim Noble
Runner Up: Amazon
SPORTS & LEISURE
BEST BIKE CLUB
Winner: Ales and Trails
Runner Up: Bitches of Chaos
BEST CAMPING SPOT (IN STATE)
Winner: Stone Mountain State Park
Runner Up: Mount Mitchell State Park
BEST DISC GOLF COURSE
Winner: Reedy Creek Park Disc Golf Course
Runner Up: Renaissance Disc Golf Course
BEST GOLF COURSE
Winner: Pine Island Country Club
Runner Up: River Run Country Club
BEST GROUP WORKOUT
Winner: Kahli Yoga
Runner Up: Bloom Movement Artistry
BEST HIKING TRAIL
Winner: Crowders Mountain
Runner Up: High Shoals Falls (South Mountain)
BEST LOCAL MASCOT
Winner: Sir Purr
Runner Up: Chubby the Checker
BEST LOCAL SPORTS FIGURE
Winner: Christian McCaffrey
Runner Up: Steve Smith
BEST LOCAL SPORTS TEAM
Winner: Carolina Panthers
Runner Up: Charlotte Checkers
BEST PLACE TO GET BACK TO NATURE
Winner: Crowders Mountain
Runner Up: Grandfather Mountain
BEST RECREATION CENTER
Winner: Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center
Runner Up: Eastway Regional Recreation Center
BEST RUN CLUB
Winner: NoDa Run Club
Runner Up: Black Men Run Charlotte
BEST WEEKEND GETAWAY
Winner: Asheville
Runner Up: Charleston, South Carolina
NEWS, POLITICS & ENTERTAINMENT
BEST FREE EVENT
Winner: Charlotte Pride
Runner Up: Friday Nights at Camp North End
BEST HERO/HEROINE
Winner: Jamie Starks
Runner Up: Kaitlin Rothweiler
BEST LOCAL CELEBRITY
Winner: Jeff Jackson
Runner Up: Joe Bruno
BEST LOCAL FESTIVAL
Winner: Charlotte Pride
Runner Up: Festival in the Park
BEST LOCAL PODCAST
Winner: The Charlotte Podcast
Runner Up: Southbound
BEST NEW THING
Winner: Being vaccinated
Runner Up: Charlotte Gaymers Network
BEST NEWS REPORTER/ANCHOR
Winner: Joe Bruno
Runner Up: Molly Grantham
BEST NEWS STORY OF THE PAST 12 MONTHS
Winner: CMS requiring masks
Runner Up: Myers Park High School rape cover ups
BEST POLITICIAN
Winner: Jeff Jackson
Runner up: Braxton Winston
BEST RADIO PERSONALITY
Winner: Ace & TJ
Runner Up: Ramona Holloway
BEST RADIO SHOW
Winner: Charlotte Talks – WFAE
Runner Up: Matt & Ramona in the Morning – The Mix 107.9
BEST TV PERSONALITY
Winner: Brad Panovich
Runner Up: Larry Sprinkle
BEST TV SPORTSCASTER
Winner: Steve Smith Sr.
Runner Up: Taylor Zarzour
BEST TV STATION
Winner: WSOC-TV
Runner Up: WBTV
BEST USE OF TAX MONEY
Winner: Parks and Greenways
Runner Up: COVID-19 relief
BEST VIRTUAL EVENT
Winner: Charlotte Black Film Festival
Runner Up: CreativeMornings/Charlotte
LOCAL ISSUE THAT NEEDS MORE ATTENTION
Winner: Affordable Housing
Runner Up: Homelessness
WHAT WE NEED LESS OF
Winner: Luxury Apartments
Runner Up: Traffic Congestion
WHAT WE NEED MORE OF
Winner: Affordable Housing
Runner Up: Kindness
WORST POLITICIAN
Winner: Pat McCrory
Runner Up: Tariq Bokhari
WORST USE OF TAX MONEY
Winner: I-77 Express Lanes
Runner Up: CMPD
SOCIAL MEDIA
BEST BLOG
Winner: The Queen City Style
Runner Up: North Carolina Rabbit Hole
BEST BUSINESS INSTAGRAM
Winner: IRIS Blossom (@irisblossomclt)
Runner Up: Lucky Dog Bark & Brew (@barkandbrewclt)
BEST FACEBOOK PAGE
Winner: Camp North End
Runner Up: One Voice Chorus of Charlotte
BEST INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
Winner: Allie Papajohn (@eatdrinkclt)
Runner Up: Onya Nerves (@onyaofficial)
BEST INSTAGRAM INFLUENCER
Winner: Spicy CLT Memes (@spicycltmemes)
Runner up: Wynee Bermudez (@wyneesworld)
BEST LOCAL FACEBOOK GROUP
Winner: NoDa Community
Runner Up: Queer Society Charlotte
BEST TIKTOK ACCOUNT
Winner: Wyneesworld
Runner Up: Blackguyscook
BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT
Winner: @JoeBrunoWSOC9
Runner Up: @CLTdevelopment
BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR HUMOR
Winner: @StarMedCare
Runner Up: @clt_overheard
BEST TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR NEWS
Winner: @JoeBrunoWSOC9
Runner Up: @WBTV_News
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT &
SOCIAL JUSTICE
BEST ACTIVIST
Winner: Ohavia Phillips
Runner Up: Cameron Pruette
BEST ACTIVIST GROUP
Winner: Block Love Charlotte
Runner Up: Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg
BEST EVENT FOR A GOOD CAUSE
Winner: Charlotte Pride
Runner Up: 24 Hours of Booty
BEST NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
Winner: Block Love Charlotte
Runner Up: Goodyear Arts
BEST PLACE TO VOLUNTEER
Winner: Time Out Youth
Runner Up: Second Harvest Food Bank
BEST SUPPORT GROUP
Winner: Safe Alliance
Runner Up: Transcend Charlotte
This work by Queen City Nerve is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
