BEST DANCE INSTRUCTOR
Tracey Sims TurnOut Movement Arts Studio 1820 Stevenson Dr., 816-3888 www.turnoutstudio.com Opening her own studio in her second year of grad school, Tracey Sims initially started as a hip hop instructor. Over time, she came to offer all aspects of dance, including the class that you let us know touched you most: her Gettin’ Down dance class for kids with Down Syndrome. Inspired by her boyfriend’s brother, who has Down’s, Sims decided to do her master’s in Movement Therapy final project on teaching dance to other people with the condition.

“I’d done so much work and research… it made it easy to do it as a class at the studio.” Our voters were very thankful. “The Turnout Dance Studio, under the direction of Miss Tracey, gives my handicapped daughter a chance to be like all kids. Tracey is a positive influence and a great role model for the students as well as the young people she has working with her.”
Runner-up: Janet Cripe at Dance Creations

BEST THEATRICAL PERFORMER
Gus Gordon You’ve seen him on TV – the reserved weatherman on the Channel 20 news. But Gus Gordon gets to be an entirely different person on stage, and his passion for acting has earned him the title of “Best actor” many years in a row. From his first acting role in his high school production of A Christmas Carol, Gordon was hooked. Acting, he says, helped him gain confidence and find his standing in the social structure of high school. “I wouldn’t be doing what I do today, as a weatherman, unless I’d taken that first step and auditioned for a show,” he says. But the modest meteorologist is quick to heap praise on his fellow Springfield actors, of whom he says there are “so many others worthy” of being called “best.” Gordon’s next onstage performance will be around Christmas, when he will star in the new musical, Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!). Until then, his fans will have to settle for watching him “perform” the forecast.
Runner-up: Mary Kate Smith

BEST LOCAL BLOG
SpringfieldMoms.org Founder Kim Leistner Little will celebrate the fifth anniversary of SpringfieldMoms.org this November. Her initial newsletter sent to 30 friends at the start has grown to a thriving enterprise that draws 10,000 hits a month. “The intention is for people to get with us when they’re pregnant and stay with us,” she explains. “When we started we focused on kids from birth to pre-school, but now we’re from birth to college; most from birth to age 13. The page was redesigned since readers voted it Best Blog in 2008. Among the additions, a “Mom’s Faves” page, Featured Events listed at the home page, a What Do You Think? poll, and coupons aplenty. From a one-woman show, Kim has added four paid staffers and a volunteer advisory board. Plans to franchise SpringfieldMoms.org are in the works.

Capitol Fax Blog and Blog Free Springfield finished second and third in the voting.
Runner-up: Capitol Fax Blog