Australian Cannabis Cup / Nimbin Mardi Grass Cannabis Cup (incl. Hemp Olympix)
A low-key competition held alongside a long-running cannabis law reform festival in Nimbin, northern New South Wales.
- 66results on record
- 1995–2025years in our data
- 23editions
- 12matched to strains
- Nimbin, NSWlatest location
01Beginnings
The Nimbin cup belongs to a bigger story: the MardiGrass festival. Members of the Nimbin Hemp Embassy organised it as a calm, non-confrontational protest, held on 1 May 1993, that everyday people could attend without worry1. Wikipedia credits Bob Hopkins with the idea1. The MardiGrass Organising Body (MOB), made up entirely of volunteers, was set up to run the event1.
Nimbin already had a reputation. A Setu article dates the town's status as Australia's counterculture capital to 1973, when students arrived to organise the Aquarius festival2. The same article names Michael Balderstone, who ran the Nimbin museum, and lawyer David Heilpern as two of the three people at the core of what became the Hemp Embassy2. It notes that the protest falls on the first weekend in May, after Lent and Easter, rather than on a Tuesday2.
The history of the competition itself is less clear. Wikipedia's list of cannabis competitions describes the Australian Cannabis Cup as an annual Nimbin event celebrated since before 19953. The sources do not give an exact founding date or a founder. They also use several names, including Australian Cannabis Cup, Nimbin Cannabis Cup and Nimbin Cannabis Grower's Cup, and do not confirm whether these are the same event123.
02The story so far
Before the first MardiGrass, in March 1993, a group marched to the Nimbin police station and threw eggs and toilet paper at it, and critical newspaper coverage followed1. Wikipedia says that by the time the first MardiGrass marchers reached the police station, most accounts put the crowd at more than a thousand1. Setu reports that about 2,000 people marched in a later year2. It also says the organisers chose Gandhi-style peaceful protest as their response2.
The Cup reached a national audience in 1995, when 60 Minutes featured it in a documentary3. Over time it has centred on two main categories: buds or flowers, and extracts such as oils and hash3. Wikipedia's list entry says cups are awarded to the overall winner of the variety competition and in the best wax, dabs and rosin categories3.
In 2016 Frew Publications, publisher of Lee Falk's Phantom, threatened legal action against the Nimbin HEMP Embassy over its use of the character1. Setu adds that campaigning began to shift as legalisation came to seem inevitable, with industrial hemp now under discussion2.
03Culture and character
The festival weekend mixes protest with play. It includes the Hemp Olympix, with Joint Rolling, Bong Throw and Growers Iron-person events, as well as the Nimbin Cannabis Cup1. The parade features the traditional Big Joint and dancing Ganja Faeries1. The festival's Phantom-inspired mascot, the Plantem, was played by John Kenneth Taylor until his death in 20071.
The Cup keeps a deliberately low profile. Setu says the Nimbin Cannabis Grower's Cup is held at a secret location near the town2. Wikipedia's list entry says judges from across Australia sample entries and vote for their favourite varieties3. It adds that, because cannabis is illegal, the Cup is a quiet, underground event for a close-knit community3. Alec 'Craze' Zammitt and Will Stolk of the protest group 'Who Are We Hurting?' have recorded the event on video3.
Setu also observes that many young people come to MardiGrass for the festival rather than as a protest against prohibition2.
04Where it stands now
Wikipedia describes MardiGrass as a cannabis law reform rally and festival held in Nimbin every year since 19931. The ByronBay.com guide lists Nimbin MardiGrass 2025 for 2 to 4 May 2025, and marks the listing as expired4. The sources do not say whether the Cup ran in 2025.
Wikipedia's list entry notes that recreational cannabis is still illegal at the federal level in Australia3. It gives no dated status for the Cup itself, so the sources do not document its current form.
05What's next
The sources contain no announced plans for the Cup and no 2026 dates. The only stated outlook concerns the festival: the ByronBay.com guide says the intention is to hold MardiGrass every year until prohibition ends4. The sources do not say whether the Cup, the Hemp Olympix or the festival's format will change.
The results, in our data
CannaLib holds 66 results from this cup across 23 years (1995 to 2025), 12 of them matched to a strain in the catalogue.
Recent first-place strains
| Year | Strain | Category | Entrant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Slaphappy | Overall Champion | |
| 2005 | Bubble Hash | Indoor | |
| 2005 | Rainbow Dreaming | Outdoor | |
| 2004 | Rainbow Dreaming | Overall Winner | |
| 2004 | Rainbow Dreaming | Outdoor Local | |
| 2003 | Jack Flash | Overall Winner | |
| 2003 | Jack Flash | Outdoor Local | |
| 2002 | Bubbleberry | Overall Winner (Indoor) | |
| 2001 | Bushman | Overall Winner (Outdoor) | |
| 2000 | Bushman | Overall Winner (Outdoor) |
Editions on record
- 2000 · Nimbin, NSW
- 2001 · Nimbin, NSW
- 2002 · Nimbin, NSW
- 2003 · Nimbin, NSW
- 2004 · Nimbin, NSW
- 2005 · Nimbin, NSW
- 2009 · Nimbin, NSW
- 2011 · Nimbin, NSW, Australia
- 2025 · Nimbin, NSW
Sources
- MardiGrass (Wikipedia)
- Setu: Nimbin Mardi Grass
- List of cannabis competitions (Wikipedia)
- Nimbin MardiGrass 2025 | The Official ByronBay.com Guide
Written from the sources above and checked on 2026-10-29. Spot an error? Tell us on the contact page.