February Fire Official Rules and Other Info

February Fire is a virtual and physical cannabis flower contest. Anyone in Virginia and surrounding areas is eligible to submit their homegrown cannabis flower, and we encourage beginners and experienced local growers to enter!

Alongside being evaluated by our panel of Judges, each Contestant's flower will be tested for Cannabinoids, Terpenes, and Mycotoxins. Judge feedback and lab results for every entry will be shared with the community and with the respective Contestant.

Timeline

-Entry Packages will go on sale in November. There will be an Entry Box Presale on 11/2/25 at Homegrown VA. from noon until 4:00. Entry Boxes will go on sale on this website on 11/3/25.

-We will be hosting Judging Workshops in December 2025 and will select our Judge Panel from the workshop participants. Dates for these workshops will be announced on the IG at @februaryfireRVA

-Entries will be due by the end of the day on 12/31/2025, and each Contestant will have the opportunity to submit their entry during the last two weeks of December 2025. There will be specific delivery instructions included in the contestant’s entry box.

-Entries will be evaluated by our panel of judges during the month of January, behind the scenes.  Our testing lab will do their testing in January as well.

-Finalists will be selected based on judge feedback, and will compete head to head during the month of February.

Our Awards Celebration will take place at Homegrown VA on Feb 28, 2026. We'll announce and award the winners, share samples of the entries, showcase our sponsors, and generally celebrate how great we all are at growing our own cannabis. There will not be any cannabis sales or sales that violate VA law at the event. There will be legal adult sharing at the event which does not violate VA law.

Entry Packages

Entry Boxes for Contestants will go on sale in November 2025. These will be available on this website. There will be announcements on the February Fire Instagram when Entry Boxes become available. Enclosed in each Entry Box will be materials and instructions on how to submit the Cup Entry.

Each cup entry will include a shirt and gift bag which will be available at the Awards Celebration on 2/28/26. Gift Bags and Shirts will also be available after the event for those who cannot attend the Awards Celebration.

The cost of our Entry Packages are subsidized by our generous Sponsors. They are one per grower until they run out. If a contestant wants to enter multiple times, the second, third… entries will be priced such that they cover the cost of lab testing, jars, etc…

Entries

Only homegrown cannabis flower grown by the contestant from seed or clone is eligible. No commercially produced or procured cannabis is allowed. No entry of a friend’s grow, please only enter your own.

Edibles and extracts may be made from a friend’s grow or your own grow. No extracts or edibles may be entered from flower procured commercially or from an unknown source.

Judges may not enter the division they are judging. For example, if you are a Judge for Flower, you are allowed to enter an Extract or an Edible. You are not allowed to enter Flower.

Flower samples must be dried, cured, and ready for consumption. Extracts must be ready for consumption.

Edible Contestants will share information about their intended entry and we will determine where it fits best. There will be a place for both prepackaged, shelf stable edibles and for fresh edibles that must be consumed immediately.

Each contestant will provide 28 grams of flower, packaged according to the instructions provided with the Entry Package. The Entry Package will include jars which the contestant will use to package their sample. New Growers may submit a sample as small as 14 grams to be entered into the New Grower Category. The New Grower Category is for Contestants who have completed 5 or fewer runs only.

Sample submission options and additional instruction will be shared with Contestants in their Entry Package.

If an entry does not meet these specifications, it will be disqualified and incinerated.

Each flower sample will be tested by a local lab for cannabinoids, terpenes, mycotoxins, and moisture content. While flower will not be scored based on these results, the test results for each flower sample will be shared with its respective Contestant and will be made available on this website after the close of the contest.

Each entry will be visually inspected for mold and contaminants. If mold is present in any part of the sample, that entry will be disqualified. If visible contaminants are present, we will make a judgment call as to whether said contamination will disqualify a particular entry. In either case, the contestant will be contacted and the sample will still receive lab testing.

Samples are strictly gifts. You get nothing in return for your sample.

Edibles Entries

Edibles may be made from a friend’s grow or your own grow. No edibles may be entered from flower procured commercially or from an unknown source.

Each contestant will submit 8 samples of their Edibles Entry. Edibles entries will be tested in the lab for cannabinoids and terpenes.

Our intention for the Edibles competition for 2026 is to be fluid. We will have a forum for both prepackaged edibles and fresh edibles, and will award at least 2 Edibles, likely more as we see what types of entries we get.

Samples are strictly gifts. You get nothing in return for any samples submitted.

Extracts Entries

Extracts may be made from a friend’s grow or your own grow. No extracts may be entered from flower procured commercially or from an unknown source.

Each contestant will submit 7 samples of their Extracts entry, in servings of at least 0.5 grams (jars will be provided), and will provide an 8th sample weighing 1 gram for lab testing. Contestants will be provided a 9th, larger jar in which they may share some of their entry with the community at our Awards Celebration, if they choose.

Extract entries will be lab tested for cannabinoids and terpenes. If a solvent was used in the extraction process, that entry will also be tested for residual solvents.

Samples submitted are strictly gifts. You receive nothing in return for your sample submission.

Judging/Awards

We will be selecting local judges to evaluate and score each flower sample.  In December 2025, we will offer Judging Workshops locally in Richmond to prospective judges. During the workshops, prospective judges will learn how to evaluate flower samples for February Fire.  These workshops will be taught by local experts. Some workshop participants may be invited to join the February Fire Judge Panel.

The Judge Panel's evaluations will take place during the month of January. Each flower sample will be evaluated on Appearance, Aroma, Cure, Flavor, and Experience. Each extract will be evaluated on Appearance, Aroma, Flavor, and Effects. Each Edibles entry will be evaluated on Culinary Appeal (including appearance, aroma, flavor, and mouth feel), Dosage Accuracy, and Effects. Judges will work from a standardized rubric that guides their evaluation, stressing objectivity in each evaluation.  Judging will be "blind", judges will not know anything about the samples they evaluate (with the exception of Fresh Edibles).

The top scoring flower submissions will receive a second round of evaluation.  This second evaluation will be in person, as a group, and head to head against the other finalists... the goal being that the group reaches a consensus as to which winners are selected for each category.

The following will be awarded. Please note we will add additional awards, including awards for runners up and potentially 3rd place as suits the competition field. For example, if we get multiple hash entries, we may award Best Hash.

Best Overall Flower
Breeder Cup
Best Indoor Flower
Best Outdoor Flower
Best Autoflower Flower
Peoples Choice Flower
Growers Choice Flower
Best New Grower Flower
Best Extract Overall
Best Solventless Extract
Best Solvent Extract
Best Edible Overall
Best Fresh Edible
Best Packaged Edible
We are also considering a few other Live Judging experiences with associated awards during our 2/28/26 Awards Celebration. Most likely, this will involve Hash Holes and Pre Rolls, but that’s all getting sussed out currently.

While contestants may enter multiple times, no one entry can win multiple awards. For example, if entry #234 wins Best Overall Flower, it cannot also win Best Indoor. Best Indoor rolls to the runner up Entry.

Depending on the total number of entries, we will also be awarding second (and possibly third) place for many of our categories.

The results from judge evaluations, lab results, and any applicable notes from judges will be shared with each respective contestant after the contest ends, and will be made publicly available on this website so everyone can see how each Contestant's flower scored.

TLDR: Have your flower submissions ready by the end of 2025. Entry Packages go on sale in November. Stay tuned to r/RVA_homegrown or February Fire's Instagram so you don't miss any relevant announcements!

All of the above is subject to revision and adjustment. We would rather run a really good Cannabis Cup than pretend we know exactly how to do everything perfectly, and will "adjust the sails" as necessary to ensure a fair, fun, transparent contest. If you have questions or suggestions, please feel free to message me directly at info@13plants.com