Instagram
Photo Contest
Over $2,500 in PRIZES TO BE WON!
We will be awarding over $2,500 in gift certificates from our participating vendors to the lucky winners of our Photo Contest and our Surprise Pop-Up Giveaways on Instagram. Win and you could be enjoying treats from our vendors all year long!
Winners of the photo contest will be drawn and announced on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2026.
Pop-up contests will be announced via impromptu posts on our Instagram account @hotchocolatefest
See details below.
What You Could Win
1st Prize - $1,000
40 gift certificates from our participating vendors.
Total value = $1,000
2nd Prize - $500
20 gift certificates from our participating vendors.
Total value = $500
3rd Prize - $300
12 gift certificates from our participating vendors.
Total value = $300
4th to 10th Prize - $100
7 sets of 4 gift certificates from our participating vendors.
Total value = $100 each
How to Enter
1. Post a photo of your hot chocolate on Instagram!
When you are at one of our participating cafes or shops enjoying a hot chocolate, whip out your phone and take a picture of your drink. Then post it on your Instagram feed.
2. The Important part.
These steps and the tags are different from previous festivals. There are TWO steps to enter!
- Tag us directly onto your photo at @hotchocolatefest AND
- In the caption box write #HCFphotocontest2026 as your 1st word
The first step will send your photo to our tagged feed so we can easily find it. The second lets us know that you intend the photo to be entered in the contest.
Then your photo will be entered to win one of 10 grand prizes worth $2,500 in total.
3. What Else?
You may enter the contest with wall posts or reels, but NOT with stories as they do not stay around long enough for us to count them.
If your account is set to “Private” we will not be able to see your tags. You must request that we follow you. DM us to request a follow. Your account will remain private as we only view posts where we have been tagged, or have been requested to look at by you.
You can always check to see if your entry has been received by looking down the #HCFphotocontest2026 hashtag wall. Unfortunately however, as Instagram no longer posts sequentially by time of posting but instead by their own algorithm, you may have to scroll down the length of the wall to find it.
Winners will be drawn by an automated random selector and announced on February 14, 2026 around 9 p.m. The more photos you have entered, the greater your chances of winning.
Contest Rules
Entries to the Hot Chocolate Photo Contest will be accepted until 6 p.m. on February 14th. Prize draws will take place about 9 p.m.. Selection of winners is automated and random.
The contest is open for entries from January 17th to February 14th, 2026.
Enter as often as you wish, but only one photo for each featured flavour per person is permitted. (If you have 4 photos of one drink, that’s one entry. If you have one photo of four drinks, that’s 4 entries.) Multiple shots on one post are okay.
Two (or more people,) or two (or more) IG accounts cannot enter the same shot. The computer will pick up that it is the same photo and disqualify both.
Ballots are credited for the drink, not for a side edible by itself. (For example you just bought the croissant and not the drink that goes with it.)
Shots of a branded cup with no view to the topping or a view of the side edible to help identify the hot chocolate contents may be disqualified. (Yes, people have been known to enter shots of empty cups or cups containing coffee or just water.)
Please see the information above outlining the two steps you must take to enter.
*Festival organizers, participating vendors, suppliers, charity partners and the winners of the $500 Grand Prize from previous years are not eligible to win these prizes.
This contest is open to residents of BC only. The contest is not in any way sponsored, administered or associated with Instagram, Inc. By entering, entrants confirm that they are 19+ years of age, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram’s terms of use.