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Fat Bear Week 2026:
How to vote.
Voting hours, a weekend break, and a few very good reasons to pick a bear.
NEXT UP GUIDE · CHECKED SEPTEMBER 20, 2026
Your next favorite competitor might spend the afternoon standing in a river, waiting for lunch.
Fat Bear Week celebrates the brown bears of Alaska’s Katmai National Park as they build up reserves for winter. The public chooses a champion through an online tournament. In 2025, it attracted more than 1.7 million votes from over 100 countries—a vote total, not a count of individual people. Source: National Park Service.
The event runs September 22–29, with no voting September 26–27 on the US schedule. As of our September 20 check, voting has not started.
Open the official voting page ↗You will vote on Explore.org, not on Next Up Guide.
Save the dates. Skip the weekend.
The gap in the middle is intentional. This calendar uses the organizer’s US dates; overseas voting windows can fall on the following day.
Voting days
No voting
Voting resumes
Final
US voting hours
- Eastern: noon–9 p.m.
- Pacific: 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
- Alaska: 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Sources: Explore.org’s voting page and NPS announcement.
Watching from the UK or Australia?
These are our conversions of the official Eastern-time window for this September event. Australia has several time zones; use the city matching yours.
- London (BST): 5 p.m.–2 a.m. the next day. Windows start September 22, 23, 24, 25, 28 and 29.
- Sydney / Melbourne (AEST): 2 a.m.–11 a.m. on September 23, 24, 25, 26, 29 and 30.
- Perth (AWST): midnight–9 a.m. on September 23, 24, 25, 26, 29 and 30.
The date-change catch: Saturday September 26 still includes Friday’s US poll in these locations. In London it ends at 2 a.m.; in Sydney at 11 a.m.; in Perth at 9 a.m. No new London window starts September 26–27. Sydney and Perth have no voting windows September 27–28.
A few taps, and you’re in.
- Open the official ballot and find a matchup.
- Select a bear’s photo. The other bear’s photo turns gray.
- Enter your email when asked and submit.
- Look for both bears’ vote totals: Explore.org identifies this as confirmation.
Each poll accepts one vote per email. Official instructions.
Our suggestion: read the profiles before opening the ballot. It is more fun to have a reason for your pick than to choose the first impressive silhouette.
Choose a story to follow.
Start with the official bear profiles. This year’s lineup includes five bear families, alongside younger independent bears and adult contenders. Two places to begin:
132 and her cubs
An experienced mother with her fourth known litter. Her profile tells the story of a cub’s separation and reunion this summer.
694
A young independent male balancing fishing, exploration and time with other bears. A different kind of contender from the established adults.
Profile summaries: Explore.org, Meet the Bears. These are introductions, not predictions.
Want to linger a little? Open the Brooks Falls bear cam in another tab. Let curiosity, rather than a checklist, decide how long you stay.
No poll—or no confirmation?
Check the calendar first. You may be early, outside the voting hours, or visiting during the break. Use the local-date notes above if you are outside the US.
If results do not appear, Explore.org says to refresh; re-entering the same email and submitting again does not add a second vote. Its loading advice also includes checking ad or pop-up blockers. Official troubleshooting.
Use the organizer’s current page if its schedule changes. This guide is a handy route to the event; the ballot and live results remain with Explore.org.
Go to the official ballot ↗Official event schedule ↗ · Past champions ↗
Sources & photo notes
Verified September 20, 2026 against the linked National Park Service and Explore.org pages. International times were calculated from the announced US window using the named cities’ time zones. Next Up Guide is independent and is not affiliated with the organizers.
Both photographs carry NPS photographer credits without copyright symbols on their source pages. NPS identifies such material as public domain in its media usage guidance. Third-party images on NPS sites may have different rights. No participant photos have been AI-generated.
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