Founded in 2021, The Zalympix (say ‘zah’, not ‘zay’) is a cannabis competition crafted by a small close-knit group of founders with the hopes of shining a light on those within the industry they feel deserve further recognition. The cornerstone is a competition based on integrity.
The Zalympix began as an invite-only competition and awards celebration in LA that featured some of California’s most respected flower growers and brands. Winners were determined by the public who purchased judge kits and then voted on their favorite entries. Awards were handed out during an Awards Celebration one month after judge kits went on sale.
Initially there was a “Summer” and “Winter” Zalympix, followed by a championship round that featured all the winners from the Summer and Winter competitions.
After three successful competitions and awards ceremonies, The Zalympix team realized that continuing such a format would oversaturate the events calendar for the very people they wanted to have involved. The team decided to focus on having only one competition each year however also expanded into the Michigan and East Coast markets.
After a few more competitions and in conversation with their Michigan Partners, the Zalympix team soon realized when competition entries are submitted in branded packaging, it’s easy for some voters to become biased based on an individual’s affiliation for a particular brand. For this reason, the team decided to make all competitions “blind.” Competitors could no longer enter in branded packaging and were instead given blank unbranded packaging to submit their entries in.
To make the competition more inclusive, the Zalympix crew soon implemented a preliminary round so all licensed brands could have the opportunity to enter. The Zalympix team put together an esteemed group of industry judges recognized for their pallet, to go through preliminary round entries that consisted of anywhere from 110 – 140 entries. Industry judges had a month to choose their top 28 competitors they felt should go on to compete in the public competition.
The Zalympix has certainly seen its fair share of growth throughout the years. What started as a flower competition only now includes rosin. Recently, Zalympix introduced a new industry awards bracket in addition to the public vote to add a more sophisticated layer and tone to the overall voting experience.
All these changes that have been made in the years since the inception of the Zalympix have only enhanced the competition phase and further optimized its timeline to benefit dedicated cultivators. The process has evolved to create more space for growers to intentionally cultivate and harvest a craft batch of flower specifically for the Zalympix competition. What has not changed is the crew’s commitment to the cannabis plant and the cultivators who bring it to market.
California Winners Flight
Recently, the team at Zalympix was pleasantly surprised when they realized that the total number of winners from the past five California events totaled 28 brands. That, in large part, inspired the curation of the California Zalympix Winners Flight, each of which was packed with some of Cali’s most fire flower, and sold out almost immediately. The Zalympix crew wants to shout out Slaphub, Sticker Farmer, Miron, Elements, and Elevated for their contributions to this project.
On November 15th, in Hollywood, California, the Zalympix crew took it back to their roots and hosted a private, invite-only celebration. This event was an homage to the winners from the past half-decade, with the highly exclusive RSVPs being reserved for the “Zalympix Ecosystem” – hundreds of past competitors, judges, sponsors, exhibitors, and VIPs.
It is not uncommon to find yourself among 10,000+ cannabis fans at a modern-day Zalympix event, with 100 or more booths, live music, dank food, and good vibes in abundance, and that scene is coming back again multiple times in 2026. But, for their final event of 2025, the team at Zalympix provided a time and place where the hardest-working cannabis operators in Cali could check the marketing and publicity at the door for the day, and just kick it with their peers and celebrate their shared success.
To highlight the half-decade of award winners in the Golden State, California cannabis consumers were given the opportunity to scoop a limited-edition California Zalympix Winners Flight, featuring top-shelf flowers from 26 of the 28 winners dating back to 2021.
The fortunate heads who got their hands on the small batch of Winners Flights this fall were not only blessed with a history lesson in the world’s best weed, they also received a VIP pass to attend the private celebration for the Winners Flight participants.
Those from the public who were able to get a judge kit voted on the following categories:
● Best Overall
● Best Tasting
● Best Terps
● Heaviest Hitting
● Best Looking
● Gassiest Flower
● Most Unique
For the first time ever, an industry awards category was introduced where a panel of esteemed judges voted on these categories:
● Best Overall
● Best Tasting
● Best Terps
● Most Unique
● Best Candy
● Best Z or Z Hybrid
● Gassiest Flower
The Winners of both brackets were:
Best Overall (Industry Award)
Wizard Trees w/ Zangbanger
Best Tasting (Industry Award)
LA Family Farms w/ Orange Drip
Best Terps (Industry Award)
LA Family Farms w/ Orange Drip
Best Candy (Industry Award)
Poundcakes Farm w/ Dubble Bubble
Best Z / Z Hybrid (Industry Award)
Preferred Gardens w/ Kamikaze
Gassiest Flower (Industry Award)
Greendawg w/ Dawg Walker OG
Most Unique (Industry Award)
Wizard Trees w/ Zangbanger
Best Overall (People’s Choice Award)
1. LA Family Farms w/ Orange Drip
2. Wizard Trees w/ Zangbanger
3. Angel City Farmers w/ Giraffe Puzzy
Best Terps (People’s Choice Award)
1. LA Family Farms w/ Orange Drip
2. Poundcakes Farm w/ Dubble Bubble
3. Moon Valley Cannabis w/ Super Boof
Best Tasting (People’s Choice Award)
1. LA Family Farms w/ Orange Drip
2. Wizard Trees w/ Zangbanger
3. Angel City Farmers w/ Giraffe Puzzy
Heaviest Hitting (People’s Choice Award)
Kush Co w/ Iceberg Slim
Best Looking (People’s Choice Award)
Big Joely’s Craft Cannabis w/ Verzace
Gassiest Flower (People’s Choice Award)
Nameless Genetics w/ Mega Wellness
Most Unique (People’s Choice Award)
Bosky Genetics w/ Soap x Odder Popz #29
It is a testament to the relationship that Zalympix has formed and maintained with these talented cultivators over the years. It also speaks highly of those cultivators/brands that have been able to maintain their market presence through turbulent times.
That really is the point of a cannabis competition, though, right? Not only to determine which is best, but to let the true connoisseurs know where they can get it, too! To help these brands establish or maintain their rightful place in the market?
So, that’s where we’re at! But let’s take a deeper look at the unique aspects of the Zalympix format and collectively get stoked about what’s coming next.
For Zalympix, The Long Game Is The Only Way To Play
To understand the significance and the grassroots popularity of The Zalympix, it helps to try to view cannabis competitions in general from a grower’s perspective.
– Most weed competitions operate on extremely accelerated timelines, forcing judges to consume a lot of entries in an unrealistic amount of time.
At Zalympix, the timeline for entering caters to cultivators who operate on set schedules.
For example: Let’s look ahead to next year’s California-based Zalympix competition, currently scheduled for May 30th, 2026. Although that is over five months away on the calendar, the work already started this past November of 2025, when 108 entries were received by the Zalympix team from licensed cultivators during the Preliminary Round entry window.
These entries were stripped of their branding to be totally anonymized and were given to the thoughtfully-selected team of industry insider judges–none of whom are in any way affiliated with any of the brands who have entered. These judges are currently reviewing the entries and will be coming back with their final votes by December 29th. Here is an example of the industry judge line-up for 2024.
During the preliminary round, 28 industry judges are given a month to determine the top 28 entries from the preliminary field of flowers.
Once the 28 finalists are determined by the industry judges, the cultivators/brands will be publicly announced. At that point, they will have 120 days or more to flower and harvest a fresh batch, with plenty of time to dry, trim, and cure it to perfection for the final phase of judging.
If you are doing the math, those 120 days bring us to mid-April or so, at which point the 28 finalists have submitted their final entries, and curated boxes containing samples of those hopeful winners are then made available to retail cannabis customers in California. Everyone who gets one becomes a public judge for Zalympix, and their feedback on the flower entries will ultimately decide the award winners, who will be announced and celebrated at the May 30th event.
Awards will be determined by the public and given out in the following categories:
● Best Overall
● Best Tasting
● Best Terps
● Heaviest Hitting
● Best Looking
● Gassiest Flower
● Most Unique
There also will be an industry panel voting in the following categories:
● Best Overall
● Best Tasting
● Best Terps
● Most Unique
● Best Candy
● Best Z or Z Hybrid
● Gassiest Flower
So, as you can see, this is no fly-by-night operation. Zalympix sets its roots in the markets it operates in, and gives growers a level playing field to truly showcase their finest flowers.
This same two-stage judging format is already underway for the first-ever Zalympix event in Oklahoma, scheduled to take place on May 16th, 2026, in partnership with The Bodega Boyz, operators of local landmark storefronts, and slangers of the state’s best cannabis.
Never resting, the crew is also busy making arrangements for a September 2026 Zalympix in Michigan, where they have held four events so far, including their first Rosin competition back in 2024. Once again, they have tapped in with local legends Exotic Matter to make sure the best flower in the Mitten makes it into the competition.
In addition to its competition and event line-up for 2026, the Zalympix team is gearing up to release some new digital content this year consisting of interviews from growers and brands who have either been featured in a competition or are simply affiliated with Zalympix. This will be released through the new media division of Zalympix called ZNN, short for the Zalympix News Network.
For all types of updates related to Zalympix competitions, events, and ZNN, or to get involved, please visit www.zalympix.com
