Ocean City Wins Top Beach Award in NJ Sea Grant Consortium Contest

Ocean City, NJ -- Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Ocean City won a contest. For best beach. Again.

Yes, Ocean City was named “New Jersey’s Favorite Beach” by beachgoers in a statewide poll.

Representatives of the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium announced the winners of the annual contest in a presentation on the Ocean City Music Pier on Thursday morning.

It was the third straight year Ocean City won the contest.

Earlier this month, Ocean City won New Jersey Monthly's Shore Town Showdown, defeating 39 other beach towns to claim the crown. It garnered 31.4 percent of the vote in the final round.

It was also recently named “Best Beach” in the 2016 Philly.com Readers’ Choice Awards.

In the spring, Ocean City won Coastal Living America’s inaugural Best Beach Bracket, winning a March Madness style tournament based on online voting.

In countless other contests, Ocean City has been recognized for its boardwalk, downtown, ecotourism, family destinations, women-owned businesses and more.

On Thursday, the accolades continued, in yet another contest determined by online voting.

Balloting ran from May 1 to June 15, and winners were announced on June 30, on the eve of the big Fourth of July weekend for all shore towns.

This year the contest included winners for the four coastal counties, and Ocean City was the top beach in Cape May County. Wildwood Crest was second in the county and second overall.

The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium introduced its survey in 2008 to “inspire pride in and stewardship of New Jersey’s beaches while promoting a little healthy competition between New Jersey’s favorite beach towns.”

“New Jersey citizens are incredibly passionate about their favorite beaches up and down the coast,” Dr. Peter Rowe said in announcing the winners on Thursday.

“Because they’re primarily decided by popular votes, these many contests are a testament to the work of the city team, City Council, the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Tourism Development Commission, the Boardwalk and Downtown Merchants associations, local businesses, all volunteer groups and the entire community in making Ocean City a superior place to live, work and play,” Mayor Jay Gillian said. “Congratulations to everybody in Ocean City for achieving these honors.”

Ocean City sold more than 400,000 individual beach tags in the summer of 2015, according to city officials.

The city’s eight miles of beaches are known nationwide as “America’s Greatest Family Resort.”

The attached image was provided by Ocean City officials: Ocean City mascot Martin Z. Mollusk, Business Administrator Jim Mallon and City Council Vice President Pete Madden accept the award as New Jersey’s favorite beach.