Gallatin named 'Nicest Place in America' by Reader's Digest

Gallatin earned this title from Reader's Digest magazine after beating out hundreds of cities from all across the country.

Reader's Digest partnered up with Nextdoor to seek crowd-sourced submissions for the contest.

On Wednesday morning, the mayor of Gallatin and the editor-in-chief of the magazine held an awards ceremony to celebrate the honor.

The magazine says the residents of Gallatin have "a commitment to diversity, charity work and an overall culture of kindness."

The publication also noted that the town was able to rise above adversity after a police shooting in 2016.

"Gallatin was one of hundreds of places eager to share their stories of people instinctively putting community ahead of themselves," said Bruce Kelley, editor-in-chief of Reader's Digest. "Never was this more apparent than in the wake of a terrible shooting, when the people of Gallatin decided against the 'us against them' anger and suspicion of the past and instead chose peaceful and civil dialogue to move forward as a community."

The top 10 finalists were chosen by editors. Voting was opened to the public in June, and more than 30,000 votes were cast for the city of Gallatin.

The editors took the vote tally, along with their reporting on the city, and also asked for input from celebrity judge and country artist Brett Young before making a decision.

Gallatin will be featured on the cover of the November issue of Reader's Digest.