Vote for Charleston’s Bartender of the Year

On Monday, November 16, Eater will present the 2015 Eater Awards, our sixth annual celebration of all that's made the restaurant world run — and run wild — in the past 12 months. Winners will be selected on both the local and national levels in five major categories, and the voting begins right now. The polls are now closed for restaurant of the year and chef of the year. Next up? Bartender of the Year. Vote now for the man or woman who really stepped up behind the bar in 2015.

Each of these candidates helped opened a new bar in Charleston, during a time when legislation attempted to halt new cocktail establishments. Jeremiah Schenzel (of Cocktail Club) and Teddy Nixon (formerly of Edmund's Oast) are bar managers of newcomer Mash in the Cigar Factory. Steven Huddleston mixes drinks in the posh setting of The Spectator Hotel. Megan Deschaine runs the bar at King Street stunner 492. Nayda Freire turned Faculty Lounge into a space for innovative drinks utilizing interesting ingredients.

Freire, Schenzel, Deschaine, Huddlestone, Nixon

Here's how the voting works: Eater editors have named nominees in Charleston for each of five major categories. Eater readers will vote, narrowing the nominees to three finalists. From those three finalists, the Eater editorial team will select a winner. Ready to play your part? This poll will be open for 24 hours; voting irregularities will be strictly policed.