Nearly every damn day, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay readers roll out of bed and do their absolute best to have an excellent day. On one night of the year, they stay up late to celebrate all the wonderful people, businesses, artists and special moments that made the last 12 months special. That’s Best of the Bay awards night when your local 36-year-old alt-weekly shares the results of the readers poll and collection of critics picks.

Last night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, a very sold-out Hard Rock Event Center welcomed winners, finalists, and their friends for the annual Best of the Bay party. The effort that you all make to create the community you want to live in is not lost on us. Thanks for all your hard work and kindness. 

Yes, there are party pictures from the Best of the Bay party, but here’s every beautiful person who stepped into the photo booth this year.

All photos by Caesar Carbajal.

Welcome to the Best of the Bay 2025. We're glad you're here.

Welcome to Creative Loafing’s Best of The Bay 2025

At a time when being online can be insufferable, and taking care of business in the real world gets overwhelming, these winners give us a chance to log off, take a breath, and check out that cool thing our neighbors are up to.

Credit: Caesar Carbajal / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Credit: Caesar Carbajal / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

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This article appears in Sept. 25 – Oct. 1, 2025.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...