📝 usncan Note: 2026 Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards Submission Guidelines
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Forbes Vetted is a section of Forbes.com for discovering top-performing products that are worth the investment. Our expert editors give you straightforward shopping advice on everything from home goods and tech to fashion, gifts and more, plus the inside scoop on what today’s leaders and tomorrow’s visionaries are using to step up their game.
The Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards is our annual list of the 150 top-performing products of the year that’s cultivated with our mission in mind. Over the next several months, our editors will determine our 2026 list winners with deep research, consultation with industry experts and extensive hands-on testing. We will be evaluating contenders across several categories—home and kitchen, mattresses and sleep, tech and electronics, fitness, parenting, beauty, fashion and travel—to ultimately name the best-in-class products of the year. We will also be awarding the most impressive newcomers of the year, and will evaluate novel products or updated models that launch in the year 2025 itself.
Zachary Goulko for Forbes
In preparation for the 2026 edition of the awards, which will launch in March of next year, we’re inviting submissions for consideration. If you’d like to submit a product, read on: Here’s everything you need to know about the process for the 2026 Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards.
How To Submit Products For The 2026 Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards
To submit a product for the 2026 Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards, complete the submission form by clicking HERE. There is a non-refundable $295 entry fee for each product submission. If you are submitting more than one (1) product for consideration, each product must be submitted separately, and each will have a nonrefundable $295 entry fee. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, September 30th, 2025 at 11:59pm EST. After completing the submission form, please email your receipt of payment to forbesvettedawards@forbes.com.
If you would like to submit a product for consideration after Tuesday, September 30th, 2025, we will be accepting last-minute submissions until Friday, November 21st, 2025 at 11:59 p.m EST. There is a nonrefundable $395 entry fee for each last-minute product submission. If you are submitting more than one (1) product for consideration, each product must be submitted separately, each with a nonrefundable $395 entry fee. After completing the submission form, please email your receipt of payment to forbesvettedawards@forbes.com.
Product Qualifications
We will be awarding products in the following categories:
- Home & Outdoor
- Kitchen
- Mattress & Sleep
- Tech & Electronics
- Fitness Gear
- Kids & Baby Gear
- Beauty
- Fashion
- Travel
You can submit any product that falls within one of these categories that will be available to purchase in March 2026, when the awards will be announced. Limited-edition products will not be considered.
In 2026, we will also be naming the Best Newcomer Award in each of the below product categories:
- Best Home & Outdoor Newcomer
- Best Kitchen Newcomer
- Best Mattress & Sleep Newcomer
- Best Tech & Electronics Newcomer
- Best Fitness Newcomer
- Best Kids & Baby Newcomer
- Best Beauty Newcomer
- Best Fashion Newcomer
- Best Travel Newcomer
This category will honor the best newly released products of the year that stand out for their innovation and craftsmanship. To be considered, the product must launch in 2025 and be available to purchase in March 2026 when our awards will be published; again, we won’t be able to consider limited-edition products. You’re also free to put forth as many submissions as you’d like in this category, but each will need to be its own entry and with its own submission fee.
Sample Requests And Our Product Testing Process
Once we review all entries, we will reach out to the brand contact specified in the submissions form to request product samples for testing. The testing window begins in September 2025 and will continue as required until the awards are announced in March 2026. Please note: We will only reach out for samples of products that fit within our awards categories and those we do not already have had hands-on testing experience.
For the avoidance of doubt, any products submitted for consideration via this submission process will be considered along with products that have already been evaluated and potentially recommended via Forbes Vetted. Regardless of how the product has come to us for consideration, all products will be reviewed using the same criteria and have the same opportunity of being named a winner. In the event we do not receive an entry that we deem meets the standards we have set for the 2026 Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards in one or more categories, we reserve the right to not name a winner for such category(ies).
When evaluating all products, we begin with deep research of the category at hand, and consult a range of industry experts across categories to better understand what qualities to consider when naming our winners. We then develop unique rubrics to employ for our testing process. Once a product contender is in hand, we will test it for up to 12 weeks and evaluate it against several criteria, including the following: quality, value, ease of use, performance, innovation and warranties. We’ll use the testing data we glean from all contenders to then name a winner for each category.
Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards Seal
If your product is chosen to be featured in the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards, you will be given the option to enter into a paid license agreement with us for the use of our awards seal, plus quotes from our reviewers and other assets, for your promotional purposes. For more information about Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards licensing opportunities and their fees, please reach out to forbesvetted@wrightsmedia.com. Use of Forbes intellectual property, including the Forbes Vetted Best Products Awards seal or logo, without our permission, is forbidden.
Additional Term & Conditions
By submitting an entry to the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards, you agree to release, discharge, indemnify and hold harmless Forbes Media LLC, its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, retailers, and advertising and promotion agencies, and all of their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees and agents (collectively, “Released Parties”) from any liability or damages which may arise out of participation in the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards program. All applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations apply.
Released Parties are not responsible for errors or problems of any kind relating to or in connection with the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards, whether printing, typographical, technical, computer, network, human, mechanical, electronic or otherwise, including, without limitation, errors or problems which may occur in connection with the administration of the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards, the review of entries, the announcement of the winners, or in any Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards-related materials. Persons found tampering with or abusing any aspect of the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards, who are acting in a disruptive or unsportsmanlike manner or who are otherwise not in compliance with these terms as solely determined by us will be disqualified.
By submitting an entry to the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards, you accept and agree to these terms , which may be updated at any time at our sole discretion, , as well as our decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards. Any changes we make to these terms or the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards will be effective immediately on notice, which may be given either by posting the new terms on the site or via e-mail. Your continued participation after such notice will be deemed acceptance of such changes. You should review these terms periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version. You will always be able to tell when the version was last updated by checking the “Last Revised” date at the top. All questions or disputes regarding the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards, including without limitation, those involving eligibility, participation, fraud and abuse will be resolved by us.
Your entry also constitutes permission for us and our designees to use your name, company name and logo, product name and image, likeness and/or statements about the product and/or the Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards for advertising, trade, promotional and other purposes in any and all media now or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity, without additional compensation, notification or permission, unless prohibited by law.
The Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards shall be governed by and shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York.
