Instagram
Photo Contest
Post your Koolfest photo to win our $500 Grand Prize
We will be awarding $500 in gift certificates from our participating vendors to the winner of our Photo Contest and our Surprise Pop-up Giveaways on Instagram.
The winner of the photo contest will be drawn and announced on Instagram (@koolfestbc) on August 5, 2026.
Pop-up contests will be drawn and announced via impromptu posts on our Instagram accounts @hotchocolatefest and @koolfestbc.
Grand Prize - $500
20 gift certificates from our participating vendors.
Total value = $500
Pop-up Contests on Instagram
Multiple prizes will consist of one gift certificate.
Value = $25 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 Koolfest feature, whip out your phone and take a picture of your drink. Then post it on your Instagram feed.
2. The Important part → There are TWO steps to enter!
- Tag us directly onto your photo at @koolfestbc AND
- In the caption box write #koolfestphotocontest2026 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 5 grand prizes worth $1,000 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 #koolfestphotocontest2026 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 August 5, 2026, around 9 p.m. The more photos you have entered, the greater your chances of winning.
Contest Rules
Entries to the Koolfest Photo Contest will be accepted until 10 p.m. on August 4. The prize draw will take place the next day, August 5. The draw is automated and random.
The contest is open for entries from July 1st to August 4th, 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 drink 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.