World's Top Upcycler Challenge 2026

Turn Waste into Wow.

Upcyclers × The Sewing Lab

Official Rules

1. Who Can Join

  • Open worldwide to creators age 18 or older at the time of entry.
  • Not eligible: Upcyclers employees, contractors, affiliates, challenge sponsors, judges, and their immediate family members.
  • Void where prohibited by law.
  • No purchase or sale is necessary to enter or win.

2. What Can You Enter?

Any type of upcycled creation is welcome.

For this challenge, “waste” means unwanted, donated, discarded, damaged, defective, or leftover items, including scraps and remnants, that you give a new life through upcycling.

Your creation must be made primarily from these items.

3. Challenge Dates

  • Entries and voting open: October 1, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. PST.
  • Entries and voting close: December 26, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. PST.
  • Winners announced: December 31, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. PST.

PST means Pacific Standard Time (UTC−8) for all dates listed.

4. How to Enter

Submit your creation on Upcyclers.com using one of these options:

Option 1: List a Product (U.S. Only)

  • List your creation for sale on Upcyclers.

Option 2: Post a Creation (Worldwide)

  • Showcase your creation on Upcyclers without offering it for sale.
  • You can also use this option for creations that have already been sold.

To qualify, every entry must:

  • Be a new post or listing submitted during the challenge entry period.
  • Include #wtu2026 in the description so it appears on the challenge page.
  • Include clear photos or a video of 20 seconds or less showing the finished creation.
  • Describe what you used, where it came from, and how you reworked it.

Before photos are encouraged to help show the transformation.

5. Can You Enter a Previously Made Creation?

Yes. Previously made or sold creations are welcome.

You may also re-enter a creation from a previous challenge, as long as that creation did not win any prize.

Submit it as a new entry following the requirements in Section 4. You do not need to delete your original post.

6. Entry Guidelines

  • Your entry must be your own original work.
  • You must own or have permission to use the photos, videos, music, and other content you submit.
  • Entries must not infringe anyone else’s rights or falsely suggest a brand endorsement.
  • Upcyclers may request process photos or other information to verify an entry.

7. What You Win

  • Grand Prize: $1,000 USD and the title of World’s Top Upcycler 2026.
  • Runner-Up: $100 USD.

Prizes will be paid via PayPal or Wise within 14 days after eligibility and payment details are confirmed.

Prize recipients are responsible for any applicable taxes or fees.

8. How Winners Are Chosen

Round 1: Community Voting

  • Share your entry and invite people to support it by tapping the heart on Upcyclers.
  • Each heart counts as one vote.
  • Only hearts received on your new challenge entry during the voting period count. Hearts from previous posts do not transfer.
  • The 10 eligible entries with the most hearts advance to the Finals.
  • There is a maximum of one finalist spot per creator.
  • You may enter multiple creations. If more than one of your entries reaches the Top 10, only the entry with the most hearts advances.
  • The next highest-ranked eligible entry from another creator will fill the available finalist spot.
  • If entries are tied for a finalist spot, judges will score the tied entries using the judging criteria in Section 9 and apply the tie-breaker if necessary.
  • If fewer than 10 eligible creators enter, each eligible creator advances with their highest-ranked entry.

Round 2: Judges’ Review

Judges score the finalists using the criteria below.

The highest-scoring finalist wins the Grand Prize, and the second-highest-scoring finalist wins the Runner-Up prize.

If only one eligible finalist remains, only the Grand Prize will be awarded.

9. Judging Criteria

100 points total

  • Creativity & Originality — 40 points

    How imaginative and original are the design and the way the items were repurposed?

  • Craftsmanship & Quality — 30 points

    How well is the creation made, finished, and suited to its intended purpose?

  • Sustainability Impact — 20 points

    How effectively does the creation reuse existing items, reduce waste, and extend their useful life?

  • Storytelling — 10 points

    How clearly does the entry explain what was used, the process, and the story behind the creation?

Tie-breaker: If two or more entries receive the same total score, the entry with the higher Creativity & Originality score ranks higher.

If still tied, judges compare Craftsmanship & Quality, followed by Sustainability Impact, then Storytelling, stopping when the tie is broken.

If all scores remain tied, judges will review the tied entries together and determine which ranks higher based on the judging criteria.

10. Winner Announcement

  • Winners will be announced on December 31, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. PST.
  • Results will be published on Upcyclers and its official social media channels.
  • Upcyclers will contact winners using the contact information associated with their accounts.
  • Winners must respond within seven days of notification and provide the information needed to verify eligibility and arrange payment.
  • If a winner does not respond or is found to be ineligible, the next highest-scoring eligible finalist may receive the prize.

11. Rights to Your Work

  • You retain ownership of your creation and content.
  • By submitting an entry, you give Upcyclers nonexclusive permission to use your entry’s photos, videos, and descriptions to promote the challenge, the Upcyclers platform, and future campaigns without additional payment.
  • Upcyclers may crop, resize, or format submitted content and will credit you when reasonably possible.
  • You confirm that you are authorized to grant these permissions.

12. Privacy

  • Your contact information will be used to communicate about your entry and notify you if you win.
  • Winners will be asked to provide the information needed to send their prize via PayPal or Wise.
  • Entries, creator names, and challenge results may be shared publicly.

13. General Conditions

  • By submitting an entry, you agree to these Official Rules and confirm that the information you provide is accurate.
  • Upcyclers may verify eligibility, originality, and voting activity before confirming finalists or awarding prizes.
  • Purchased hearts, bots, fake accounts, or other attempts to manipulate voting may result in invalid hearts being removed or an entry being disqualified.
  • Upcyclers may remove or disqualify entries containing spam, harassment, deliberately disruptive content, misleading information, content that infringes the rights of others, or content that otherwise violates these rules.
  • Participants are responsible for choosing safe tools, techniques, and items when creating their entries.
  • To the extent permitted by law, Upcyclers is not responsible for entries or votes that are lost, delayed, or not recorded because of technical failures beyond its reasonable control.
  • Upcyclers may modify, suspend, or cancel the challenge if fraud, technical failures, or circumstances beyond its reasonable control prevent the challenge from running fairly.
  • Any changes will be announced on Upcyclers.
  • Judging and eligibility decisions are final, subject to applicable law.
  • Nothing in these rules excludes liability or limits rights that cannot legally be excluded or limited.

14. Governing Law

The challenge is governed by the laws of California, USA.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, disputes will be resolved in San Francisco County, California.