And, there is an additional surprise to announce: There will actually be A THIRD AWARD given during the ceremony. Blueberry Founder Phil Shaltz was so inspired seeing how hard schools are working to gather votes — despite pesky “cooling off” periods that have hampered several of you — he has decided to also reward both the 1st and 2nd place finishers in the Readers’ Choice Awards.

Last year, Mr. Shaltz awarded a surprise Special Recognition Award of $250. This year that Special recognition will go to the 2nd place finisher in the online poll.

The voting is sooo tight. The top six schools are within a few hundred votes and ANY school still could win. Remember last year, with just a one hour to go LITERALLY one vote separated first and second place.

Of course, Mr. Shaltz will also award the $500 Founders’ Award to the school with the student who performed the single best Blueberry Moment. And, we can report, Mr. Shaltz is busily reviewing all of your stories to make his selection.

We’ve gotten RSVPs from almost every school. Thank you! If we haven’t heard from you, please let us know if you will be coming. Email here or use the EventBrite email invitation to RSVP.

Thank you and KEEP VOTING!