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 Moisture. 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 on November 4.
-We will be hosting Fire Master Judging Workshops in November and December 2024 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 12/31/2024, and each Contestant will have the opportunity to submit their entry during the last two weeks of December 2024. 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 2024, 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.
-During the month of February, we'll be curating content for social media showcasing the flower that our growers have submitted.
Our Awards Celebration will take place at Homegrown VA on March 1, 2025. 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. Technology permitting, the awards will be live streamed.
Entry Packages
Entry packages for Contestants will go on sale in November 2024. These will be available on this website. There will be announcements on the February Fire Instagram when Entry Packages become available. Packages will cost $40 which includes entry for one submission into the cup. Upon purchasing an Entry Package, each contestant will be assigned an entry number and receive instructions for delivering their flower sample.
Each cup entry will include a shirt and gift bag which will be available for pickup locally during the month of February.
Entry packages are $40 because of 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 $150 each, which covers the cost of testing, jars, etc…
Flower 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 Cup.
Flower samples must be dried, cured, and ready for consumption. Edibles must be shelf stable for a minimum of 60 days. Extracts must be ready for consumption.
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 must be shelf stable for a minimum of 60 days and packaged in individual, single servings for our judges. Edibles entries will be tested in the lab for cannabinoids and terpenes.
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 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 November and December 2024, 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, Flavor, and Experience. 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 flower samples they evaluate.
The top scoring flower submissions will receive a second round of evaluation. This second evaluation will be in person, as a group... the goal being that the group reaches a consensus as to which winners are selected for each category.
There will be awards for Best Indoor, Best Outdoor, Best Autoflower, Best Photoperiod, Best Overall, People’s Choice, and Best Breeder (flower grown by the actual pollen chucker). We may add to/adjust these awards based on where the entries land.
Beginner Category entries will compete for the Best New Grower Flower award and People’s Choice awards only. Contestants who enter the New Grower division must have completed 5 or fewer runs.
Breeder Category entries will compete for the Best Breeder Flower award and the People’s Choice awards only. This division is for our most experienced breeders, something of a “masters” division.
While contestants may enter multiple times, no duplicate entries may be submitted across multiple categories. For example, if you enter your Blue Dream into the Breeder Category, you may not enter your Blue Dream again in the Regular Flower Category.
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 2024. Entry Packages go on sale in November 2024. 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