By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

This year, for the first time, we made it possible for people to vote online for the Chicago Free Press Pressie Awards and our readers responded, pushing our vote totals into the thousands and making this the biggest, most successful Pressies competition ever. As always, some categories produced runaway winners, while others resulted in nailbiters. And once again, some of the winners surprised us—that’s OK, of course. After all, the Pressies are your awards. Here are the winners you, our readers, chose to honor in 2007:

CULTURE

Best Diva: Madonna
She may not be the hit machine she used to be, and the British accent she’s adopted may be a bit over the top, but our community still loves her.

Best GLBT Celebrity: Ellen DeGeneres
We love Ellen, and what’s not to love? She’s funny, she’s hip, she’s out and she consistently entertains not just our community but TV audiences everywhere.

Best Place to Cruise: Whole Foods on Halsted
When it opened in mid-2007, the Center on Halsted brought us not only a state of the art GLBT community center, it also brought us a grocery store that’s become cruise central, at least in the eyes of our readers. Ooh, check out that all-natural beef!

FILM

Best Actor: Matt Damon
This wasn’t even close. As Jason Bourne, Damon’s not only an unstoppable action star and mega-box office draw, he’s also replaced Harrison Ford as the guy many of us would most like to take home to mom.

Best Actress: Angelina Jolie
Jolie edged out Meryl Streep to win this category, no doubt gaining a boost not just for her acting but also for her political and social activism and outspoken support for gay rights.

Best Film of 2007; “Hairspray”
We liked it the first time around and we liked it in its second incarnation, too, with John Travolta assuming the role made famous by Divine. Long live John Waters!

Best Movie Theater: Landmark Century Centre
This one was close, with perennial community favorite the Music Box attracting its share of votes. But it’s hard to argue with the Century’s plush seating, perfect views and great film selection.

INTERNET

Best GLBT Website: chicagofreepress.com
We’ve worked hard in recent months to turn our website into a top-notch destination and this tells us that our readers seem to appreciate it. Thanks!

Best Internet Music Station: boystownlive.com
Our readers agreed: boystownlive.com is definitely the place to go online to keep your modem—and your booty—shaking 24/7.

Best News Website: CNN
Though the BBC garnered a surprising number of votes, more of our readers preferred CNN’s stateside view of what’s happening in the news.

LIFESTYLE

Best Automobile: Mini-Cooper/Toyota Prius (tie)
This was as close as it gets, with the third-place finisher, VW’s Eos, also winning lots of votes. We could have broken the tie, but, hey, we’ll go with the flow with either of these smart, thrifty rides.

Best Clothing Brand: Diesel
Trendy is as trendy does, you know, and what was trendy last year, A&F, lost out to a resurgent old favorite this time around.

Best Coffeehouse: Caribou on Halsted
Have the growing legions of baby strollers on Broadway finally tipped this one over to Halsted’s favor? It would seem so, as more of us chose to sip our latte and browse our laptops at Halsted and Cornelia than anywhere else.

Best Department Store: H&M
This trendy—and thrifty—newcomer has stolen our hearts, and a bit of our money, beating out troubled Macy’s and reliable Nordstrom to take this Pressie.

Best Local Shop: Gaymart
If you think nobody’s ever made one of those, check out Gaymart first. Whatever it is, they probably have it or know where to get it. Truly a community institution.

Best Neighborhood: Lakeview
And why not? Where else can you eat your way around the world, drink yourself silly, dance it off, grab a gourmet coffee and a scrumptious ice cream cone, feed your art Jones and get laid, all in the space of a few blocks?

Best Restaurant: Pie Hole Pizza Joint
Mmmmm…pizza.…really good pizza. We love this place.

MUSIC

Best Club DJ: Laura B at Hydrate
This one was very close, with Berlin legend Greg Haus coming in second. Either way, we really are spoiled—you won’t find many cities blessed with world-class club DJs like these.

Best GLBT Musician: Jim Verraros
“American Idol” was never better than this, was it?

Best GLBT Band: Scissor Sisters
They’re pretty fabulous, we agree, and they’re even better live, if you get the chance.

NIGHTLIFE

Best Bar/Nightclub: Sidetrack
It really is an amazing place that’s gained a well-deserved reputation around the world as a gay destination. With owners who keep making it better and better, Sidetrack has become one of our city’s prime attractions.

Best Bar Event: Wet Boxer Contest at Roscoe’s
Sometimes they’re hunky and sometimes they’re lumpy, but they’re always entertaining at this packed monthly event.

Best Bartender: Mike at Roscoe’s
Another close one, with Charlie’s Ricardo winning his share of votes. But in the end our readers chose Roscoe’s Mike for this Pressie. Just keep ’em coming.

Best Beer: Miller Lite
We subscribe to the notion that the best beer is the cold one in our hands, but make it a Miller Lite and we’ll be more than happy. Corona finished a close second in this category.

Best Drink: Martini
Nothing says classy like a beautiful martini, right? OK—something like that…it’s nice to see a great old drink still floating a lot of boats.

Best Drag Show: Roscoe’s Drag Race
It’s a classic that never seems to grow old—just like its fabulous, unflappable host, Frida Lay.

Best Local Impersonator: Miss Foozie
What would the world be like without Miss Foozie? Well, it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun, would it? Here’s to you, pineapples!

ON THE AIR

Best Local Anchor/Reporter: NBC 5’s Alex Perez
WGN’s Larry Potash and weather-god Tom Skilling made this one a contest, but it’s easy to see why Alex Perez won. He’s not just cute—he’s very good at what he does and a nice guy who comes across that way on the air.

Best Local TV Station: ABC 7
It’s hard to argue with this selection. They’re the place Chicagoans turn to for good, balanced news coverage when something’s happening, and their new studio on State Street is a beaut.

Best Network: Logo
We love our gay shows. It’s been an impressive year for this upstart, capped by the coup of getting all the Democratic presidential candidates to stop by for a forum this past fall.

Best TV Show: “Family Guy”
Topical and laugh-out-loud funny, “Family Guy” is one of the strogest arguments for owning a TV these days. And who hasn’t known a queen like Stewie?

POLITICS/COMMUNITY

Best GLBT Activist: Rick Garcia of Equality Illinois
Nobody works harder for our community—or does it so well—as Rick Garcia. Our readers know class when they see it.

Best GLBT Politician: State Rep. Greg Harris
A longtime behind-the-scenes power in the 48th Ward, Harris had a great freshman year in the Illinois Legislature, working around the feud between the governor and his fellow Democrats to actually get some things done. Here’s hoping he can get them to stop fighting in Springfield long enough to pass civil unions this year.

Best Local GLBT Group: Center on Halsted
The Center’s new $20-million facility at Halsted and Waveland is a living monument to our community’s ability to come together and build something great. Now let’s help the Center keep building on that foundation.

Best National GLBT Group: Human Rights Campaign
Most of these votes came in before the flap over ENDA caused tremendous friction between HRC and most other GLBT groups—it will be interesting to see what HRC does to heal those wounds this year.

Best Local Politician: Mayor Richard M. Daley
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, who usually wins this honor, came in second this year, and even she’d have to admit the mayor had a pretty good year, from winning reelection with 76 percent of the vote to being inducted as a friend of the community in the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. To a generation of Chicagoans, he is simply “The Mayor.”

Best National Politician: Hillary Clinton
This one surprised us. We pretty much figured Barack Obama would run away with this Pressie, but it’s hard to argue with our readers’ choice. Clinton is a smart leader who inspires confidence. Of course, she and Obama are a little more concerned with another election race right now…

PRINT

Best Daily Newspaper: Red Eye
Red Eye wins. The Trib loses. So does the Sun-Times. Go online for more.

Best GLBT Newspaper: Chicago Free Press
We love you, too.

Best Local Bookstore: Borders
The big boy from Michigan edged out old community favorite Unabridged Books to take this Pressie. Either way, just keep reading those books.

Best Local Columnist: Jason Steele of Red Eye
This was another tight contest, with our own Jennifer Vanasco and Bill Pritchard of chicagopride.com making it very close. But, say our readers, Steele takes the top prize.

Best Local Magazine: Time Out Chicago
Lots of upheaval in this category, with old favorite Chicago not even finishing in the running this year. Time Out ended up edging out CS to capture the Pressie.

SPORTS

Best Local Sports Team: Chicago Cubs
In a down year for Chicago sports teams, the 100-years-and-counting Cubbies remained a GLBT community favorite. Hey, hey, there’s no goat curses in the Pressies competition, right?

Best Sport to Play: Volleyball
OK, we really want to know—just how many of you came close to a volleyball net last summer? Uh-huh…

Best Sport to Watch: Football
Score one for the weekend warriors, but it’s worth noting that soccer made a contest out of this category this time around.

THEATER

Best Local Theater Company: Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf is one of those things that makes you realize that there really is a difference between living in Dallas or Boston and living in Chicago. You won’t find better acting or stage productions anywhere in the world.

Best Local Theater Production: “Wicked”
Everybody loves a witch, right? Or maybe we were all trying to figure out how to break that curse that left W in charge.

READERS’ CHOICE

Best Superhero: Batman
Maybe Wonder Woman needs a new agent, huh?