Fat Bear Week is an annual online bracket tournament in which the public votes for the fattest brown bear at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, celebrating the bears that “build the fat reserves they need to survive the winter.” The National Park Service runs it as “a partnership between the National Park Service, Explore.org, and the Katmai Conservancy.” The 2026 edition ran September 22–29, 2026, and was won by bear 89, “Backpack.”
Origin
According to the National Park Service, “The first Fat Bear Week wasn’t a week at all.” In 2014, park ranger Mike Fitz saw a bearcam fan’s post comparing a bear’s June and September photos, and rangers decided to host a one-day event: “Fat Bear Tuesday was held on September 30 and votes were cast with likes on Facebook.” The first full Fat Bear Week took place October 7 through 13, 2015. Wikipedia adds that 2015 was also the first year the tournament was hosted online.
How It Works
Bears go head-to-head in a bracket-style tournament and the public votes on each matchup, in the spirit of the original fan post that set a bear’s June photo beside its September one. In 2026 the NPS revealed the bracket on September 18, voting ran September 22–29, and votes were cast at fatbearweek.org, per the park’s announcement.
2026: Backpack Wins
- Final. “Voters were split between bear 910 and 89 Backpack in the final round,” CBS News reported on September 29, 2026. Citing Explore.org, CBS gave the result as 103,334 votes for Backpack and 98,253 for the runner-up. Fox Weather reported that Backpack “prevailed by just over 5,000 votes.”
- Semifinal. CBS reported that Backpack was “barely edging out 164 Bucky” in the semifinal round, and that voting “had to be extended an additional day.”
- Family title. Backpack is the offspring of 435 Holly, the 2019 champion. CBS explained that his name came from his habit as a first-year cub of climbing onto Holly’s back as they waded through the river.
- Turnout. Fox Weather reported that the competition drew more than 2.3 million people from around the world.
Fat Bear Week Champions by Year
| Year | Champion | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 480 “Otis” | NPS |
| 2015 | 409 | NPS |
| 2016 | 480 “Otis” | NPS |
| 2017 | 480 “Otis” | NPS |
| 2018 | 409 | NPS |
| 2019 | 435 “Holly” | NPS |
| 2020 | 747 | NPS |
| 2021 | 480 “Otis” | NPS |
| 2022 | 747 | NPS |
| 2023 | 128 “Grazer” | NPS |
| 2024 | 128 “Grazer” | NPS |
| 2025 | 32 “Chunk” | NPS |
| 2026 | 89 “Backpack” | CBS News |
Otis (four titles) leads the list; 409, 747 and Grazer have two each.
Sources
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fat-bear-week-2026-winner-backpack/
- https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/alaska-bear-winner-2026-fat-bear-week-viral-competition
- https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/nature/fat-bear-week-past-and-present.htm
- https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/news/fat-bear-week-2026.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Bear_Week