This is the ballot for Illinois Marching Online’s 2006 Bands of the Year voting. While the ballot is public, voting is carried out in private, and neither the names or the votes of any voter will be revealed. All voters fall into the following categories:
1). Illinois Marching Online Staff
2). Current Illinois Band Directors (HS or College)
3). Retired Illinois Band Directors (HS or College, still residing in Illinois)
4). Other highly qualified individuals
Members of category #4 who are voters must be of such recognition that a reasonable person would see them as at least as qualified as a Current Illinois Band Director to vote in this poll. Such individuals would include, for example, judges who reside within Illinois or who judged many Illinois contests this season. No High School students may vote, for any reason, in this poll.

Instructions to Voters
– Please go through each of the following Divisions. Select five bands in each division (a total of 20 bands) who you feel most embody a band with strong musical, marching, and general effect/showmanship in their 2006 performances. After selecting those bands, please rank them (#1-#5). You must vote for 5 bands in each division, or your ballot will not be counted.

– You must consider a band’s field show in your voting. You may consider parading performances as well, but such is not required. Do NOT consider past year’s performances or placings, including past Bands of the Year, when making your decision.

– The ballot is made up of all bands attending either the U of I, ISU, or BOA Grand Nationals competitions in 2006. However, you are welcome to write-in a band that did not attend these competitions, so long as they performed a field show in Illinois in 2006 (this includes non-competitive bands). Please check the school’s enrollment at IHSA.org before sending in a write-in vote.

– The divisions have been slightly modified to make them more balanced numerically. This affected 9 of the 84 bands: Bloomington, Danville, Dunlap, Marengo Community, Mater Dei, Mt. Zion, Normal West, Paxton-Buckley-Loda, and Rock Island were all in a lower division than they would have been using the 2005 cutoffs.

– E-mail your votes to ilmarching@ilmarching.com by November 25, 2006.

2006 Bands of the Year Ballot

Division I (1601+ Students)
Alan B. Shepard
Alton
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Argo Community
Bolingbrook
Brother Rice/St. Laurence
Collinsville
Downers Grove South
Fremd
Glenbrook South
John Hersey
Joliet West
Lake Park
Lincoln Way Central
Lincoln Way East
Marian Catholic
Minooka
Naperville Central
Naperville North
Neuqua Valley
Normal Community
Oak Park/River Forest
Pekin
Plainfield South
Prospect
Rolling Meadows
Romeoville
Thornwood
United Township
Victor J. Andrew
Warren Township
Waubonsie Valley
Wheaton North
Wheaton Warrenville South

Division II (851 to 1600 Students)
Bloomington
Champaign Central
Champaign Centennial
Charleston
Danville
Effingham
Galesburg
Geneseo
Huntley
Lemont
Mahomet-Seymour
Marion
Marmion-Rosary
Mattoon
Metamora Township
Morton
Normal West
Pontiac
Rochelle
Rock Island
Streator
Washington
Waterloo

Division III (501 to 850 Students)
Carterville
Dunlap
Eureka
Herscher
Illinois Valley Central
Macomb
Marengo Community
Monticello
Mt. Zion
Murphysboro
Newton
Olympia
Pinkneyville
Prarie Central
Richmond-Burton
University High

Division IV (1 to 500 Students)
Atwood-Hammond
Bement
Blue Ridge
El Paso-Gridley
Farmington Central
Mater Dei
Paxton-Buckley-Loda
Ridgeview
Tri-Valley
Watseka
Westville