Yahoo has launced a "Best of Yahoo" sweepstakes that offers users a chance to win prizes, including a car or vacation, in return for rating and reviewing local establishments - and so providing editorial content for its recently enhanced local search service that highlights user-generated content, reports ClickZ.

In addition to improving search results and boosting brand loyalty by giving users a sense of community, Yahoo likely hopes that that increased use and loyalty will attract greater interest from local advertisers to what is already the most popular local search offering.

The 54 categories available for rating and review include best-value hotel, best "wired" hotel, best cheap eats, best outdoor seating and best family vacation spot. Users visiting bestof.yahoo.com are presented with the current Top 10 for their location; they can vote for or add to those.

Mazda is the official sponsor of the sweepstakes. Users have up to120 chances to win a 2006 MAZDA5 or MX-5 Miata and other prizes.