Minecraft Mod of the Year 2025

As part of CurseForge’s ongoing support and dedication to the community, we're collaborating with Noxus to host the Mod of the Year competition! This event is designed to celebrate, recognize, and reward the mod authors who have made the biggest impact on the Minecraft community this year. We want to thank them for their incredible work.

Below is a brief overview of the qualifications for entering and participating in the contest. Afterward, you will find the full and official rules governing the contest. Please take the time to carefully read the official rules.

TIMETABLE:

• Nomination phase: November 17th to December 1st. The community (mod authors and gamers) submits their favorite mods that meet the criteria for the award.
• Selection phase: December 1st to December 4th. CurseForge and Noxus, along with a jury of mod authors and CurseForge employees, create a final list of the top 15 nominees to move to the voting phase.
• Voting phase: December 8th to December 22nd. The community and the jury vote on the final 15 nominees to determine the winners, with both votes being weighted equally at 50%
• Winners announcement: January 11th. The contest ends with the announcement and celebration of the top three winners via a premier video on YouTube.

This contest includes the following prizes:

• Cash prize pool: The top 3 mods will each receive a $1,000 cash prize (3 total winners)
• Homepage showcase: A dedicated homepage carousel will be used to showcase the top three winners on the CurseForge platform.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

Participation in the Mod of the Year event is open to two main groups: mod authors (whose mods meet the criteria) and the community (who nominate and vote).

Mod Criteria to be Eligible for Nomination:

• Release date: The mod must have been initially released between November 2024 and November 2025.
• Original content: It must be a completely new development, not a reiteration or port of an existing old mod or modpack.
• Platform: The mod must be published on CurseForge
• Download Threshold: The mod must have at least 100,000 downloads on CurseForge.
• Moderation: All submitted creations must adhere to CurseForge Moderation Policies and Minecraft’s Specific Moderation Policies. This includes restrictions on the use of protected intellectual property, prohibitions on nudity, etc.

Community Participation - Submission

• Who nominates: The community (mod authors and gamers)
• How to nominate: Click on the link on the main landing page to submit your favorite mod during the nomination phase
• Required info:
  • Mod URL on CurseForge
  • Mod name
  • Description: Why are you nominating this mod
• Notes:
  • Multiple submissions of the same mod during this phase will have no effect on its chances.
  • Failure to meet any of the requirements set forth below in the official rules may lead to the disqualification of your submission or the revocation of any winnings.

Community Participation - Voting

• Who votes: The community (mod authors and gamers)
• How to vote: Each community member chooses their top 5 mods from the selected finalists
• Votes will be tallied based on community votes (60%) and jury evaluation (40%) to ensure balanced results.

JUDGING (Selection phase):

• Judges: A panel of judges, consisting of Noxus, CurseForge employees, and judges from the modding community, selects the 15 finalists among the nominated mods
• The Panel of Judges will select the finalists based on “Originality”, which will evaluate how creative, new, and unique the project is; "Fun Factor," which will evaluate whether the project is fun to play with; visual aesthetic aspect, which will evaluate whether the project is "eye-catching"; and Downloads, which will determine the number of downloads the project has accumulated so far. Authors cannot have more than one mod in the finalists

Minecraft Modding Contest OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

No purchase is necessary to enter or win, nor will it improve your chance of winning. Void where prohibited by law. By participating, you agree to these Official Rules and all relevant platform and game policies referenced herein.

Participation in the Minecraft Mod of the Year contest (“Contest”) constitutes your full and unconditional agreement to these Official Contest Rules (“Official Rules”). This Contest is sponsored and administered by Overwolf Ltd., the operator of CurseForge and hosted in collaboration with Noxus (the “Host”). This Contest is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mojang AB, Microsoft, or any of their affiliates. All information and entries are provided to Sponsor, not to Mojang or Microsoft.

Eligibility

Age: Open to individuals who are at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in their jurisdiction, if higher) at the time of entry.

Account: Entrants must have a valid CurseForge account in good standing.

Location: The contest is open worldwide, except in any regions or countries where such contests are prohibited or restricted by law (void where prohibited).

Compliance: All entrants must abide by the CurseForge Mod Author Terms and Conditions, the CurseForge Moderation Guidelines, as well as Mojang’s official Minecraft Usage Guidelines. Entries that violate these terms or guidelines will be disqualified.

Promotion Period

The contest begins on November 17th, 2025, and ends on January 11th, 2026 (the "Promotion Period"). The nomination phase begins on November 17th, 2025, and ends on December 1st, 2025 (the "Nomination Period"). Only nominations submitted during the Nomination Period will be accepted. The voting phase begins December 8th and ends December 22nd (the “Voting Period”). All entries must be submitted within the Nomination Period. Precise start and end times (including time zone deadlines) will be indicated on the contest announcement page. Late submissions will not be accepted.

How to Enter

To participate, community members (including mod authors) may nominate their favorite eligible mods that are already published on CurseForge. To be considered, a mod must be publicly available on CurseForge during the Nomination Period and meet all eligibility criteria, including release between November 2024 and November 2025, originality, and compliance with moderation and content policies. Nominations must be submitted through the official nomination form available on the contest announcement page and must include the mod’s CurseForge project link, name, and a short description explaining why it is being nominated. Multiple nominations of the same mod will not affect its chances of being selected. Only nominations submitted during the Nomination Period will be accepted.

Judging and Community Vote

All eligible entries will be evaluated after the Nomination Period by a panel of judges appointed by Noxus. Judges will include CurseForge team members and/or Minecraft content experts. Entries will be scored based on the following criteria:

Originality – How creative, innovative, or unique is the mod or content? Does it bring new ideas or mechanics to the game?

Fun Factor – How enjoyable and engaging is the gameplay or experience? Entries should be entertaining and improve the Minecraft experience for players.

Aesthetics – The visual design, polish, and overall presentation of the project. This includes graphics, user interface, audio, and how professionally the project is put together.

Community Engagement – Measured by community response during the contest, such as download counts or user feedback on CurseForge. This reflects how well the community receives the project. (Note: Entrants should not attempt to falsify downloads or ratings, such behavior may lead to disqualification.)

Using the above criteria, the judges will calculate a total score for each entry. Grand Prize winners will be the top-scoring entries overall (as detailed in Prizes below). In addition to the judged results, there will be a Community Vote component: after the submission deadline, the CurseForge community will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite projects (or favorites will be determined by download/popularity metrics during the contest). The community will vote to determine the winners. Details on how to vote and the voting period will be announced on the contest page after entries close. All judging decisions are final and made in the spirit of fair competition.

The judging panel and Overwolf reserve the right to disqualify any entries that do not fairly meet the above criteria or that violate the rules.

Prizes

A total of 3 prizes, each equal to USD$ 1,000 cash prize will be awarded following the announcement, with additional recognition elements as outlined below.

Winners may be featured in a special Noxus video to celebrate the contest’s conclusion. The top three winners will receive placement on the CurseForge homepage carousel for post-event visibility.

Limit: No individual participant may receive more than one prize. In other words, the same person will not win twice with two different mods.

All prize values are in U.S. dollars. Prizes will be delivered via a payment method determined by Overwolf (for example, electronic funds transfer or gift card). Winners are responsible for any taxes or fees associated with receiving a prize. No substitution or transfer of prizes is permitted except at Overwolf’s discretion.

Winner Notification and Taxes

Winners will be notified by Overwolf within approximately 7 days after the selection for all winners. Notification will occur via the contact information provided in the entry form or via the email associated with the winner’s CurseForge account. It is the entrant’s responsibility to provide valid and accessible contact details.

If a selected winner cannot be reached, fails to respond within 10 days of the notification, or is found to be ineligible or non-compliant with these rules, an alternate winner may be selected (for Grand Prizes or Community Favorites, the next highest-scoring or next in line by votes. Prior to receiving a prize, winners may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release (where permitted by law) or provide additional information for prize fulfillment.

Tax Disclosure: Any and all federal, state, provincial, or local taxes (if applicable) on the prize are the sole responsibility of the winner. Overwolf may require winners to submit necessary tax forms (such as W-9 for US residents or W-8BEN for non-US residents) before awarding the prize, in accordance with U.S. tax law and applicable international tax treaties. Overwolf will not provide tax advice; winners should consult their tax advisors as needed.

Rights in Submission

Ownership: As the creator, you retain full ownership of your mod or content submitted to the contest. Participation in the contest does not transfer any intellectual property rights, your mod remains yours.

Apart from this limited license, all other rights to your submission remain with you. You can continue to develop, distribute, or monetize your mod as allowed under the CurseForge Mod Author Terms and Minecraft’s policies (e.g., you still must comply with Minecraft’s EULA/usage guidelines for any content, but you are free to do as you wish with your own work).

Publicity

By accepting a prize, each winner consents to the use of their name (or online alias), likeness (e.g. avatar), and the title/description of their submitted project by Overwolf and CurseForge and/or Noxus for promotional purposes. This includes, without limitation, announcements of the winners on CurseForge’s website, blog, social media, and other marketing materials, worldwide and in perpetuity, without further compensation or notice, except where prohibited by law. This publicity release is limited to context related to this Contest or the promotion of the CurseForge platform and is subject to the Privacy Policy and applicable laws.

Disqualifications

Overwolf reserves the right to disqualify any entry or participant for the following reasons (including but not limited to):

Rule Violation: If an entry or participant violates any part of these Official Rules or the referenced CurseForge policies and guidelines (e.g. submitting prohibited content, not following Minecraft’s usage guidelines, etc.), the entry can be removed from the contest. Inappropriate Content: Entries that contain cheating mechanisms, malware, hateful content, discriminatory themes, nudity/pornography, extreme violence, or any content that violates CurseForge’s Moderation policies or community standards will be disqualified. Intellectual Property Infringement: Submissions must be the entrant’s original work. Do not submit mods or content that you did not create, or which use others’ copyrighted material without permission. Plagiarism or infringement of others’ work will result in removal and potential banning.

Gaming the System: Any attempt to manipulate the contest or scoring, such as by fraudulently inflating download counts, using multiple accounts, or coordinating fake votes/reviews, will result in disqualification. Keep the contest fair for everyone.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Participants must behave in a fair and respectful manner. Harassment of other contestants or officials, or any attempt to undermine other entries, is grounds for disqualification.

If an entry is disqualified, Overwolf may remove it from the contest listing. In the event a disqualification is discovered after prizes have been awarded, Overwolf reserves the right to revoke the prize and select an alternate winner, if feasible. All decisions regarding disqualification and eligibility determinations are at the sole discretion of Overwolf and are final.

Governing Law

This Contest, and any disputes arising from it, will be governed and resolved in accordance with the CurseForge Mod Author Terms and Conditions, including their provisions on governing law and jurisdiction.

Privacy Policy

Any personal information collected through participation in the contest will be processed in accordance with Overwolf’s Privacy Policy

Contact Information

For any questions regarding the Contest, please contact us at curseforge@overwolf.com or through the CurseForge Discord server.