Awards

Recipient of Gold
Match.com

Recipient of Silver
eHarmony

Recipient of Bronze
Zoosk

We closed the 2010 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll earlier this month with a total of 798 votes from visitors. The poll really was popular this year and it received over 10 percent more votes than last year while being available only for 3 months when compared to 5 months in 2009. I had hoped to start the poll in August or September but it wasn't online until October. Next year the plan is to have all the awards finished up by the end of December instead of running into the new year like we have always done.

It's interesting to see how the results vary from year to year in the Single's Choice award as the dating sites compete to be number one with singles. This award is sort of like the "Best Director" award at the Oscars, it is the most important. The reason the Single's Choice award stands out is it is decided by the public with votes, and not us. With our Editor's Top Pick awards we try to make an unbiased selection but, when you talk dating sites everyday sometimes the decision may not be as clear as we would like.

For 2010 we listed the top ten dating sites for you to vote on. The three dating sites which received the most votes will get an award, Gold for first, Silver for second and Bronze for third.

The recipient of the Gold 2010 Single's Choice Award is Match.com. Not surprising, this is the fourth year in a row that this dating site has won the Gold Single's Choice Award. Match.com continues to lead in the dating industry and this year they received over 37 percent of the votes. This is a huge eight percent increase over last year which shows Match.com is gaining in popularity and continues to be the one to beat. Match.com was also the winner of the Editor's Top Pick - Overall award as well.

The recipient of the Silver 2010 Single's Choice Award is eHarmony. This is eHarmony's third year to win this award and their popularity remains about the same at 20 percent of total votes. eHarmony is designed for singles with long term relationships in mind so it is not for everyone. With them winning Silver it shows just how popular and effective they are especially since they do all of the matching for you.

The recipient of the Bronze 2010 Single's Choice Award is Zoosk. Zoosk is a relatively new dating service and it is the first time they have appeared in the DSR Choice awards. This is a great accomplishment for them to receive an award this year let alone a Single's Choice award which is decided by votes. Zoosk received 94 votes which is almost 12 percent of the total vote.

This year's standings for the Single's Choice award for all dating sites in the poll are (click the dating site name to read our full review):

1. Match.com
2. eHarmony
3. Zoosk
4. PerfectMatch.com
5. Chemistry
6. Lavalife
7. Date.com
8. FriendFinder.com
9. SinglesNet.com
10. True.com

Once again, we would like to give a big THANKS to everyone who cast a vote this year in the Single's Choice Award.

Recipient
PlentyOfFish.com

Our poll for the 2010 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award which we started October 2nd, 2010 had almost 800 people cast their votes by the beginning of January 2011. This is the second year in which we asked our visitors to recommend the best free dating site for the year. A free dating site has to offer most features of the dating service for free. This includes creating a profile, advanced searching and communication by mail messages. Some of these free services may offer a paid upgrade of a membership which gives the user additional features but in order to be considered free by us, a free member should still be able to use the site to find and communicate with their matches at no cost.

The recipient of the 2010 Single's Choice Award for a Free Dating Site is PlentyOfFish.com. This is the second year in the row that they have received this award. In total they gathered 267 votes which is 33 percent of the total and they were recommended 14 percent more than the second most recommended free dating site. When you compare the results to the previous year’s poll, in 2010 singles preferred PlentyOfFish.com 4 percent more than in 2009.

Here are the final results of the poll:

1. PlentyOfFish.com
2. Craigslist
3. OkCupid.com
4. DateHookUp.com
5. Mingle 2
6. Matchdoctor.com

This year's runner up was Craigslist with 19 percent of the vote followed by OkCupid with 18 percent of the vote. PlentyofFish.com had an additional 114 votes (or 14% more) over the runner up Craigslist. Following OkCupid was Datehookup.com with just over 12 percent of the vote. Mingle 2 came in at 7 percent followed by Matchdoctor.com with 5.5 percent.

Read our review of PlentyOfFish.com.com for more information about this online dating service or visit Plenty of Fish directly.

Recipient
Passion.com

The Editor's choice for the Top Pick - Sexy award for the best adult oriented dating service is Passion.com. In a vastly competitive part of the dating industry where most adult dating sites are filled with tons of fake profiles Passion.com stands out as one of the best choices for men and women to hookup.

On Passion.com there is a lot to do. Besides searching for matches, members can chat online, read steamy member blogs, and peruse the adult location directory which lists thousands of adult-themed businesses from all over the world. Passion.com members also can now form and join local or topical interest groups. These interest groups let members meet similar people, participate in discussion boards, and setup real group events local to you.

With over 34 million members and usually over 100,000 members logging in every hour, Passion.com is an ideal dating site to join if you are a man or a woman looking for a private encounter.

Read our review of Passion.com for more information about this dating service or visit Passion.com directly.

This Year's Runner Up for this award is: Lavalife

Recipient
OkCupid

The Editor's Top Pick - Free Award goes to OkCupid. While not the largest free dating site it does have a large membership base thanks to almost 4.5 million people logging in every month. What makes OkCupid in the world of free dating sites unique though is their attention to detail. As soon as you visit the site and create a dating profile you can tell that it is well crafted. All the features and dating tools just flow together and the site itself just plain looks good. OkCupid also has an interesting matching feature where members can design tests for other members to take. These tests can be about almost anything and can give you a different perspective on your matches who are interested in you.

In 2010 OkCupid added a number of things to their service. Members can now login using their Facebook account by either signing up directly through their Facebook account or by linking their current OkCupid account and Facebook account together. OkCupid also now offers their site through smart phones with dating applications available both on the iPhone and Android based phones. Their homepage also got an overhaul. Gone now are the feature profiles which first greeted users and back is a simple sign up form for new users.

If you are interested in trying out a free dating site (that has some paid options) then OkCupid.com should definitely be on your radar. Their friendly community and feature rich dating service makes finding a relationship online fun.

Read our review of OkCupid for more information about this online dating service or visit OkCupid directly.

This Year's Runner Up for this award is: Plentyoffish.com

Recipient
eHarmony UK

The recipient of the 2010 Editor's Top Pick - United Kingdom Award is eHarmony UK. With over 1,000,000 members since launch this dating service which scientifically matches singles based on personality has become very popular in the United Kingdom. One of the reason for this popularity is the result of how good the matching system works. They took the matching algorithm from eHarmony.com and with the help of the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford they adapted it for UK singles.

Internet dating is very competitive in the United Kingdom and in a few short years eHarmony has become one of the top recommended dating services by serious UK online daters. With eHarmony you not only get to use the dating site but, you get a complete package. Everything from the eHarmony Advice blog, discovering the science behind relationships with eHarmony Labs, to a helpful customer care team that is a phone call or email away.

Singles in the United Kingdom wishing to find a long-term and meaningful relationship should give eHarmony UK a try. It is free to take the personality questionnaire and to review your matches so your next relationship may just be a few clicks away.

Read our review of eHarmony UK for more information about this dating service or visit eHarmony UK directly.

This Year's Runner Up for this award is: Match.com UK

Recipient
MillionaireMatch.com

The Editor's Top Pick - Wealthy Award recipient for 2010 is MillionaireMatch.com. This is the fourth year in the row that MillionaireMatch.com has received this award showing that they continue to dominate this dating niche. Millionaire Match has served the wealthy and sugar daddy dating niche since 2001 and is one of the oldest service of this type. Being almost 10 years old means that they have amassed a large user base which has continued to grow throughout 2010. A few of the outstanding things about this service is free members can reply to paid members messages and members photos, education and income levels can be verified by the dating site as long as the member send in the proper documentation. An icon will be visible on the profile page showing if the member has been verified.

In 2010 MillionaireMatch.com added a number of new features for their Gold members. The "My Match" section got an overhaul and allows members to specify a lot of additional information about the type of person they are looking to connect with. Gold members can also now list questions that are visible when another member attempts first contact by email. This has two benefits, the first one is it allows you to find out the details you need to know right away if a match can be successful. The other benefit is that these questions also act like and icebreaker and helps get a meaningful conversation started.

If you are interested in meeting a wealthy single, or you are a wealthy single looking to show someone else a good time then MillionaireMatch.com is an excellent choice to visit online to find likeminded and interesting people.

Read our review of MillionaireMatch.com for more information about this dating service or visit MillionaireMatch directly.

This Year's Runner Up for this award is: Sugardaddie.com