Terms & Conditions

Minecraft Mod of the Year 2026

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 and modpack 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: October 26th to November 9th. The community (mod authors and gamers) submits their favorite mods and modpacks that meet the criteria for the award.
Selection phase: November 9th to November 23rd. CurseForge and Noxus, along with a jury of mod authors and CurseForge employees, create a final list of the top 15 mods and the top 9 modpacks to move to the voting phase.
Voting phase: December 7th to December 17th. The community and the jury vote on the final 15 mods and 9 modpacks to determine the winners, with the community vote weighted at 70% and the jury vote weighted at 30%.
Winners announcement: January 3rd. The contest ends with the announcement and celebration of the winners via a premier video on YouTube.

This contest includes the following prizes:

Cash prize pool: The top 5 mods and the top 3 modpacks will receive the following cash prizes (8 total winners):
- Best Mods of the Year: 1st place $2,000, 2nd place $1,500, 3rd place $1,000, 4th place $750, 5th place $500
- Best Modpacks of the Year: 1st place $1,500, 2nd place $1,000, 3rd place $500
Homepage showcase: A dedicated homepage carousel will be used to showcase the winners on the CurseForge platform.
Mod of the Year badge: All winners will receive a Mod of the Year badge.
Showcase Shorts: All winners will be featured in Showcase Shorts produced by Noxus.
Finalist swag package: Every finalist, including the winners, will receive a swag package.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Participation in the Mod of the Year event is open to two main groups: mod and modpack authors (whose mods or modpacks meet the criteria) and the community (who nominate and vote). The contest has two categories: Best Mods of the Year and Best Modpacks of the Year.

Mod Criteria to be Eligible for Nomination:

Release date: The mod must have been initially released in or after September 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 50,000 downloads on CurseForge at the close of the nomination phase.
Moderation: All submitted mods 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.
Previous finalists: The mod must not have been a finalist in the 2025 Mod of the Year contest. Its author may still take part with a different mod.

Modpack Criteria to be Eligible for Nomination:

Release date: The modpack must have been initially released in or after September 2025.
Platform: The modpack must be published on CurseForge
Download Threshold: The modpack must have at least 25,000 downloads on CurseForge at the close of the nomination phase.
Moderation: All submitted modpacks 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 or modpack during the nomination phase
Required info:
- Mod or modpack URL on CurseForge
- Mod or modpack name
- Email address of the person submitting
Notes:
- Multiple submissions of the same mod or modpack by the same person during this phase will have no effect on its chances.
- Eligibility, including the download threshold, is checked at the close of the nomination phase.
- 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 3 mods and their top 3 modpacks from the selected finalists. Each person may vote only once
Votes will be tallied based on community votes (70%) and jury vote (30%) 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 finalists among the nominated mods and modpacks: 15 mod finalists and 9 modpack finalists. The 5 eligible mods and the 5 eligible modpacks nominated by the largest number of different people are guaranteed a place among the finalists (if two or more are tied for the fifth place, the panel decides between them), and the panel selects the remaining 10 mod finalists and 4 modpack finalists. Each judge may give one mod and one modpack a special vote that counts twice when the panel selects the remaining finalists.
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. For modpacks, the panel will also consider “Quality”, which will evaluate how well built the modpack is. Authors cannot have more than one mod or modpack 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 Overwolf, not to Mojang or Microsoft.

Eligibility

Age: There is no minimum age to take part in the Contest, other than the minimum age required to hold a CurseForge account. Cash prizes are subject to the age and other eligibility requirements of the CurseForge Rewards Program (see Prizes below).

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 October 26th, 2026, and ends on January 3rd, 2027 (the "Promotion Period"). The nomination phase begins on October 26th, 2026, and ends on November 9th, 2026 (the "Nomination Period"). Only nominations submitted during the Nomination Period will be accepted. The voting phase begins December 7th and ends December 17th (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 and modpacks that are already published on CurseForge. To be considered, a mod or modpack must be publicly available on CurseForge during the Nomination Period and meet all eligibility criteria, including release in or after September 2025, the applicable download threshold, originality (mods only), and compliance with moderation and content policies.

Eligibility, including the download threshold, is determined at the close of the Nomination Period. Projects that were finalists in the 2025 Mod of the Year contest are not eligible, but their authors may take part with other projects. Nominations must be submitted through the official nomination form available on the contest announcement page and must include the mod’s or modpack’s CurseForge project link, name, and the email address of the person submitting. Multiple nominations of the same mod or modpack by the same person 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.

Mods will be evaluated 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.)

Modpacks will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Originality: How creative, innovative, or unique is the modpack? 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, and how professionally the project is put together.

Quality: How well built the modpack is, such as its stability, its questlines, its custom mods, and how well it delivers a specific experience or story.

Using the above criteria, the judges will select their favorite entries. The finalists will be selected as described above, and the winners in each category will be the finalists with the highest combined result of the jury vote (30%) and the community vote (70%) (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. During the Voting Period, each judge and each community member may choose their top 3 mods and their top 3 modpacks from the finalists, and each person may vote only once. For each finalist, the share of all jury votes in its category that it receives is weighted at 30% and the share of all community votes in its category that it receives is weighted at 70%, and the two are added together. If two or more finalists have the same combined result, the finalist with more community votes ranks higher, and any remaining tie is decided by the judging panel. 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.

Finalist Notification: Overwolf will notify the author of each finalist project (the owner of the project’s CurseForge page) by email after the selection phase. The author of any nominated project may ask Overwolf at any time to remove the project from the Contest by contacting us at the address below.

Prizes

A total of 8 cash prizes will be awarded following the announcement, with additional recognition elements as outlined below. For Best Mods of the Year: USD$ 2,000 (1st place), USD$ 1,500 (2nd place), USD$ 1,000 (3rd place), USD$ 750 (4th place) and USD$ 500 (5th place). For Best Modpacks of the Year: USD$ 1,500 (1st place), USD$ 1,000 (2nd place) and USD$ 500 (3rd place). In addition, every finalist, including the winners, will receive a swag package.

Winners may be featured in a special Noxus video to celebrate the contest’s conclusion. All winners will receive placement on the CurseForge homepage carousel for post-event visibility. All winners will also receive a Mod of the Year badge and will be featured in Showcase Shorts produced by Noxus.

Limit: No individual participant may receive more than one cash prize or more than one swag package, and no individual participant may win in both categories. In other words, the same person will not win twice with two different mods or modpacks. Prizes, including swag packages, are awarded to the owner of the project’s CurseForge page, who may decide how to share them with any other contributors.

All prize values are in U.S. dollars. Cash prizes will be paid through the CurseForge Rewards Program and are subject to the Rewards Program Terms of Service, including its eligibility requirements. To receive any prize, the author must accept these Official Rules and, for a cash prize, claim it through the Rewards Program. Each finalist must provide a valid shipping address within 14 days after being notified that they are a finalist, and the swag package will be shipped to that address at Overwolf’s expense. Any customs duties, import taxes or fees charged by the destination country on delivery are the sole responsibility of the finalist. A finalist who does not provide a valid shipping address within that period, or whose address is in a location to which Overwolf is unable to ship, forfeits the swag package. This does not affect any cash prize. 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 (the next-ranked finalist in the same category). 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.

License: By taking part in the Contest or accepting a prize, the author of each nominated project grants Overwolf, CurseForge and Noxus a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce and display the project’s name, logo, description, screenshots and gameplay footage, and to create and publish videos and other content featuring the project, in each case to run and promote the Contest and the CurseForge platform.

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 taking part in the Contest as a finalist, or by accepting a prize, each finalist and 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 finalists and 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: Nominated projects must be the original work of their authors and must not use others’ copyrighted material without permission. A modpack may include mods and other content created by others, provided that it does so in accordance with their creators’ licenses and permissions and with CurseForge’s policies. 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 Terms of Service (and, for mod and modpack authors, 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. Email addresses submitted with nominations are used only to administer the Contest, including to identify duplicate nominations.

Contact Information

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

Frequently Asked Questions

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Terms & conditions ELIGIBLE MODS & MODPACKS See eligibility here