Fat Bear Week 2026 begins: What to know, how to vote

(NEXSTAR) – Get ready to cast your ballot. Not in the upcoming midterm elections (at least not quite yet), but in the annual eating competition among bears in Katmai National Park in Alaska.

Each year, the National Park Service (NPS) organizes what’s lovingly called Fat Bear Week. It’s an elimination-style tournament where the public votes on which bears are doing the best job packing on the pounds ahead of hibernation season.

This year, the tournament opens for voting on Tuesday.

The tradition started sort of as an accident in 2014, according to the NPS. Mike Fitz, a park ranger, was reading comments on a bear camera live feed and saw a fan posted before-and-after images of the same bear showing how much weight it had put on between June and September.

“Fitz was shocked at the difference and started to brainstorm a way to highlight the immense changes a bear goes through from early summer to late summer,” says the Park Service.

It started as a one-day event before growing into the one-week celebration of bear fatness that it is today.

Putting on fat is essential to the brown bears’ survival, the NPS says.

“Fat is the fuel that allows bears to endure winter hibernation, a prolonged period of time where a bear’s metabolic rate drops, and the bears survive off their fat stores. During this time, they may lose up to one-third of their body weight as they rely solely on their fat reserves.”

Participants in Fat Bear Week are encourage to vote based on whatever criteria they like. It can be about pure size, or about the bear’s story or unique charm.

Last year’s champ, the 1,200-pound Chunk , took home the win despite having a broken jaw, an injury he likely sustained in a fight with a fellow bear.

An estimated 1.5 million votes were cast in the 2025 competition. You can meet the bears of the 2026 tournament here and get ready to cast your vote starting at 12 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday.