Beginning January 28, 2025, we will unveil the winners of the Cigar Coop Coalition’s Prime Time Awards for 2024. This is the eleventh consecutive year we are presenting them.
In the past week, you have seen performance data based on the reviews done in 2024. For the most part, that is a look at how I personally scored cigars. The Prime Time Awards go deeper. The awards involve Cigar Coop Coalition Team members and allow intangibles to be factored in. Much to the chagrin of many, this is a subjective exercise.
We use a two-stage voting process. In the first stage, each voting panelist can submit up to three nominations in the five Prime Time Award categories. The nominations are consolidated into a list of finalists. In the second stage, each host submits a weighted ballot of up to five candidates from the list of finalists. The weighted vote gives five points for first place, four for second place, three for third place, two for fourth place, and one for fifth place. The votes are tallied up, and the candidate with the most votes is declared the winner. In the event of a tie (there were none in 2024), the panel would go through a tie-breaker vote.
The panel votes on five categories: The “Company” and “Factory” are divided into “Small/Medium” and “Large” designations. These sizes are categorized before the nominations and revisited every year. While not an exact science, we look very closely at many parameters about the company or factory. The panel also votes for a “Person of the Year.” Voting is considered on a calendar-year basis, in this case, from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024.
One unique aspect of Cigar Coop, compared to other media entities, is that we do not make any adjustments after the voting is completed. Every member’s vote is counted, and I believe we are the only media site that fully discloses how the final voting process unfolded.
The Prime Time Award will be given to the winner of the weighted vote. Plaques will also be awarded to the Prime Time Award winner, the top three cigars from the 2024 Countdown, and the Best Cigar Value Award.
The following are the five categories of the Prime Time Awards, with the date each winner will be announced:
- 1/28/2025: Small/Medium Factory of the Year
- 1/29/2025: Large Factory of the Year
- 1/30/2025: Small/Medium Company of the Year
- 1/31/2025: Large Company of the Year
- 2/3/2025: Person of the Year
