Cannabis cup

High Times Cannabis Cup (United States)

A festival that began in Amsterdam, crossed the Atlantic, and became a US fixture tied closely to state law. Dates here are tentative, and the sources do not always agree.

3,569results on record
2010–2026years in our data
17editions
1,218matched to strains
Massachusettslatest location

01Beginnings: from Amsterdam to America

The High Times Cannabis Cup is a festival sponsored by High Times magazine. Judges sample the entries and vote, and the overall winner takes home a trophy, which is the cup of the name¹. This page follows the US side of the story, but the tale starts in Amsterdam. Wikipedia says the Cup was founded in 1988 under High Times editor Steven Hager and is usually held there each November¹. An interviewee in The Nation remembers 1987 instead, with Hager approaching about half a dozen Dutch growers to bring their best entries². The sources disagree on the year, so both are best read as claims.

The first US event is also a matter of definition. Wikipedia credits a 1995 US Cannabis Cup to Rob Robinson and Damn Sam Productions, not to High Times itself¹. High Times began running its own US Cup in 2010, the same year it launched the Medical Cannabis Cup, a separate but related event¹. That first Medical Cup took place on 19 and 20 June 2010 in San Francisco, California³. Vice describes a first annual High Times US Cup in Denver, held in April and drawing thousands, but its excerpt gives no year, so that date is not documented here⁴.

02The story: raids, a rival rise and a long calendar

In 2010, Dutch police raided the Amsterdam Cup's location, and Wikipedia counts this among the reasons the Dutch event faded while the US events grew¹. In 2014, after 27 years, Amsterdam held what looked like its final Cup. The reasons given were uncertain Dutch cannabis law, new legal venues in the US and elsewhere, and the aftermath of the 2010 raid, though the Cup later returned to Amsterdam¹. Writing on 30 October 2013, The Nation placed the Cup inside High Times' larger history, saying the magazine went on to add Cups in several US states and counting them among the largest cannabis festivals anywhere².

The US Cup is tied to state law. It honours cannabis from states where adult recreational use is legal, with judges voting across categories such as Indica, Sativa, Hybrid, Concentrates and Edibles¹. The Medical Cup differs from the Amsterdam original in two ways: it focuses on the American medical marijuana movement, and an expert panel handles the official judging³. Two later milestones are dated. The festival marked its 30th anniversary in 2017, with Danny Danko hosting the award show, and in 2018 it moved to a mid-summer slot, 13 to 15 July 2018¹.

03Culture: more than a contest

The festival is not only a competition. Alongside the judging it features live music, seminars, and an expo where cannabis businesses show their products¹. Since 1997 it has hosted induction ceremonies for a Counterculture Hall of Fame, with listed inductees including Bob Marley (1997), Bob Dylan (2002), Jack Herer (2003) and Steven Hager (2012)¹. At US expos, attendees get a vote too, choosing Best Booth, Best Products and Best Glass, which puts the crowd in the awards alongside the judges¹.

People and atmosphere fill out the picture. Journalist Bobby Black was the US events' lead reporter after 2010 and a Cup competition coordinator from 2012 to 2014. He also ran the Miss High Times contest, later folded into the annual US Cup awards in Denver each April⁵. Vice paints the Denver Cup as a lively outdoor scene with dozens of dispensaries and gear vendors, and nicknames it the Super Bowl of Strains⁴. High Times general counsel Michael Kennedy calls the Cup good branding that lets the magazine meet a new generation of young growers².

04Now: what the sources can and cannot say

Wikipedia lists the current US footprint as Northern and Southern California, Denver, Michigan, Seattle, Missouri and Oregon¹. The page carries no as-of date, so that list may be out of date and should be read as a snapshot of unknown age rather than a current schedule.

The sources reviewed contain no current-status date and no 2026 information. The latest dated event in them is the festival of 13 to 15 July 2018, and the past-winners table on the main page stops at 2014¹. Whether the US Cup is still running today is not documented in these sources, so this page does not claim either way. Anyone planning around an event should check with High Times directly.

05Future: nothing announced in the sources

No announced future plans for the US Cup were found in the sources reviewed. None of them gives upcoming dates, new host states or changes to the format, and because they also say nothing about whether the festival is currently active, any forecast would be guesswork.

The results, in our data

CannaLib holds 3,569 results from this cup across 17 years (2010 to 2026), 1,218 of them matched to a strain in the catalogue.

Recent first-place strains

Year	Strain	Category	Entrant
2026	Purple Push Pop	Hybrid Flower	Wild Sky Farms
2026	Baby Yoda	Indica Flower	Wild Sky Farms
2026	Member Berry	Solvent Concentrates	Montana Kush
2026	Cutiez	Sativa Flower	Niche.
2026	Lipsmackerz	Hybrid Flower	Niche.
2025	White Widow	Best Sativa Flower	Doobie Labs
2025	Blue Zushi	Best Indica Flower	Golden Garden
2025	Permanent Marker	Best Hybrid Flower	The Kaleidoscope Collective
2025	Obama Runtz	Best Pre-Rolls	RUNTZ
2025	Hash Burger	Best Non-Distillate Vapes	MFNY
2025	Gas Leak	Best Distillate Vapes	Heady Tree
2024	Banana Cream	Best Infused Pre-Rolls	Trax
2024	Grape Gas	Indica Flower	Uplyfted Cannabis Co.
2024	Orange Bomb	Sativa Flower	Pressure Pack

Editions on record

2010 · San Francisco, CA
2011 · Denver, CO
2011 · Bert's Warehouse Theatre, Eastern Market, Detroit, MI
2011 · San Francisco, CA
2012 · EXDO Event Center, Denver, CO
2012 · Los Angeles, CA
2012 · Craneway Pavilion, Richmond, CA
2012 · Seattle, WA
2013 · San Bernardino, CA (billed as Los Angeles)
2013 · San Francisco, CA
2013 · Seattle, WA
2013 · Denver, CO (Exdo Events Center)
2014 · San Bernardino, CA (NOS Event Center, 930 South Arrowhead Avenue)
2014 · San Francisco Bay Area, CA
2014 · Clio, MI (Auto City Speedway, near Flint)
2014 · Denver, CO (Denver Mart)
2014 · Seattle, WA
2015 · Clio, MI (Auto City Speedway)
2015 · Cow Palace, San Francisco area, CA
2015 · San Bernardino, CA (National Orange Show Events Center)
2015 · Denver, CO (Denver Mart)
2015 · Long Bay Beach Park, Negril, Jamaica (12-15 Nov 2015)
2015 · Negril, Jamaica (announced Nov 2015)
2016 · Colorado
2016 · San Bernardino, CA (NOS Center)
2016 · Clio, MI
2016 · Clio, MI (Auto City Speedway)
2016 · San Francisco, CA
2016 · San Bernardino, CA (NOS Event Center)
2016 · San Bernardino, CA (National Orange Show Events Center)
2016 · San Bernardino, CA
2017
2017
2017
2017 · Sonoma County Fairgrounds, CA
2017
2017
2018 · Settlers Bay Golf Course, Wasilla, AK
2018 · Sacramento, CA
2018
2018
2018 · Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa, CA
2018 · San Bernardino, CA
2019
2019 · Las Vegas, NV
2019
2019
2019 · Detroit, MI
2019
2019
2019
2019
2019 · Seattle, WA
2019
2019 · Seattle Hempfest, Seattle, Washington, USA (18 August 2019)
2019 · Michigan, USA
2020 · Colorado
2020 · Illinois
2020 · Oklahoma
2020 · Oregon
2020 · Southern California
2021 · Arizona
2021 · Illinois
2021 · Massachusetts
2021 · Michigan
2021 · Nevada
2021 · Northern California
2021 · Oklahoma
2022 · Colorado
2022 · Michigan
2022 · Southern California
2022 · Alaska
2022 · Illinois
2022 · Massachusetts
2023 · Arizona
2023 · Illinois
2023 · Massachusetts
2023 · Michigan
2023 · Rio Rancho Events Center, Rio Rancho, NM
2023 · Oregon
2023 · Southern California
2023 · Michigan, USA
2024 · Massachusetts
2024 · Michigan
2024 · Missouri
2024 · Michigan, USA
2025 · New York
2026 · Billings, MT
2026 · Steel Pier, Atlantic City, NJ

Every result, edition by edition →

Sources

Written from the sources above and checked on 2026-10-29. Spot an error? Tell us on the contact page.