Beware of unauthorized Southern Oregon's Best of the Best plaques

Nov. 9—The Mail Tribune and Rosebud Media's advertising department warns winners of this year's Southern Oregon's Best of the Best awards to watch out for emails selling them commemorative plaques.

At least one local business named as a favorite in the 2021 Southern Oregon's Best of the Best contest received an email solicitation from a sales representative purporting to be from ArtiPlaques LLC of Connecticut.

The email offers differerent commemorative plaques for prices ranging between $179 and $209.

"Artiplaques LLC is a distributor and is not affiliated with any publication," the email states.

According to Print Sales Manager Laura Perkins, not only are the commemorative plaques not authorized by the Mail Tribune, they're not necessary. First place winners get authorized plaques for free.

"We only offer first place plaques, and we don't charge a fee for those," Perkins said.

Perkins said that the Mail Tribune has sent cease and desist letters to companies offering commemorative plaques in the past, but new companies pop up faster than they can address with legal action. Instead, Perkins said that the Mail Tribune and Rosebud plans to reach out to winners directly about the scam plaques.

The 110 winners of this year's annual Best of the Best contest were featured in a special section inside the Oct. 24 Mail Tribune. The categories run the gamut from food trucks to financial advisors, teachers to Thai restaurants.

For a digital version of this year's Best of the Best, see mailtribune.com/magazine/2021/10/24/southern-oregons-best-of-the-best-2021-october-24-2021-2/