Voting in our "Hotties of Publishing" polls ended at midnight, and though the running tally in our women's division was intensely close during the entire polling period, in the end NAL/Roc editor Liz Scheier edged far enough ahead of the other candidates to claim victory. Liz had a lot of supporters online, among them the news editors at Locus and science-fiction author John Scalzi, who observed, "Powerful, hawt women in SF rock. What could possibly be better?" (Scalzi also uncovered the charming photo of Scheier at right which we totally would've used if we'd known it was available.) When reached shortly after midnight, Scheier annnounced herself "delighted by this honor," adding with a virtual wink, "After accepting my tiara, I will go on to help promote world peace."

Donald Maass agent Stephen Barbara, has a lot of online fans, too, as fellow literary agent Rachel Vater, along with writers Marie Lyn Bernard and Marlene Perez, rallied to get the vote out and give Stephen a decisive margin of victory. Stephen also got the chatboards humming at VerlaKay.com, where he spead the word about the poll. "A literary agent in possession of a pink tie must be in want of some serious help in the wardrobe department," sneered one commenter; au contraire, replied another, "He is man enough to wear pink." Barbara calls his win "a very pleasant surprise" and says, "I would have been happy to lose to any of the other four suave, successful (and hot) fellows... Now if only I could figure out who nominated me—my mother swears it wasn't her." (It wasn't, honest!)

Thanks to all our hot finalists in the men's and women's divisions, and to everyone who voted, for making these polls a resounding success!