In our Agents’ Choice Awards issue, you’ll meet individuals, companies and developments that are making a serious impression on Chicagoland’s community of real estate professionals. But also, you’ll see a reflection of yourself as a reader of Chicago Agent magazine.

You see, one of the cooler elements of the Agents’ Choice Awards is the dialogue they generate. First, we reach out to leaders in the industry to get their nominations, which is a great way to hear who the stalwarts of real estate have been particularly impressed with this year. Then we post the nominees, and every vote feels like a tiny interaction with the Chicagoland real estate community. And that’s pretty awesome when you consider we had almost 23,000 votes over less than two weeks. But more than the click of a button, I was especially impressed with the commentary that went on during the voting period. On the page where we embedded the voting survey, our site registered 185 comments from readers, cheering on their colleagues and offering up anecdotes and memories to bolster their praise. And that’s not even counting the innumerable comments, shares, likes and other engagements on social media, both past and to come when this issue goes to print.

All of this only underscores something that I’ve known and cherished about real estate professionals for quite some time: Though this is an individualistic and competitive industry, it’s also one where we regularly lift each other up. And for many of those doing the lifting, it comes as naturally to them as drinking water and breathing air.

So as much as I want to raise a glass to the accomplished subjects of this issue of Chicago Agent magazine, I also want to congratulate you for being a part of the generous, supportive community we serve. And if you have any nominations for next year, please send them to me at meg.white@agentpublishing.com.