So the other day I was looking through the January 2008 issue of NAILS. You know, all reader-written? A colleague and I had an article about trading places for a day in it and I wanted to cut it out and add it to my “brag book.”

I started looking at all the runners-up for the cover contest. I’m not saying the winner didn’t deserve the cover, but it wouldn’t have been my choice. Not after looking at some of the other entries.

That’s when it crossed my mind that if the January issue was really reader written, then the readers should get to decide who wins the cover contest! I mean, after all, if America can vote for its next Idol, why can’t NAILS readers vote for the winning cover of the reader-written issue?

I’ve got it worked out: The fine editors at NAILS still have to sift through dozens, if not hundreds, of entries to narrow down the top 10. Then the 10 finalists get posted on NAILS’ website and we vote! We don’t get to see any info about who did the nails in each photo — and the people who did them better stay hushed up too! And most importantly, we don’t get to see how the voting is going. That way, when the issue comes out, we won’t know which photo to expect to see on the cover.

Then NAILS can do a little blurb on the top 10. Maybe the 1st runner-up can assume the winner’s title and responsibilities should the winner not be able to live up to her obligations. Sorry, just a little beauty pageant humor there.

I’m sure there’s a way to limit each IP address to one vote, so no one can place too many votes for herself. Maybe we’d have to do it “Dancing with the Stars”-style and only have the readers’ votes count for half the score?

Whatever it takes, I have faith that NAILS can pull it off! Let us decide who wins the cover contest and get the readers even more involved with their issue!