Official rules

The short version: entry is free. Babies under 2 years can enter. Each verified voter gets one free vote per baby per day, plus bonus votes for watching short videos where available. The babies with the most votes in each group move up each round, and the top 3 in the grand final win ₹5,000, ₹3,000 and ₹2,000.

1. Organiser

Baby Of The Year 2026 (“the Competition”) is run by , (“we”, “us”). Contact us at support@babyoftheyear.in.

2. Free entry

Entering is free, and every verified voter gets free daily votes as described in section 5. Nobody outside Baby Of The Year is authorised to offer votes or act on our behalf. Report anyone who claims to.

3. Who can enter

• The baby must be born and under 24 months old on the day of entry.
• The entry must be made by the baby's parent or legal guardian, who must be 18 or older and live in India.
• One entry per baby. A parent or guardian may enter up to 3 babies.
• Our employees, contractors and their immediate families (spouse, parent, child, sibling) can't enter.

4. How to enter

Registration opens Sun, 1 Nov, 12:00 am IST and closes Sat, 14 Nov, 9:00 pm IST. Sign in with your email, then submit your baby's first name, date of birth, state, city, a parent mobile number and 1–4 photos. We review every entry before it goes live, and email the parent when the baby is selected (or the reason if it isn't, in which case you may enter again). There is no voting during registration. We may reject photos that don't clearly show the baby, feature other children or adults, contain watermarks or another contest's branding, or are inappropriate. We may ask for proof of age and guardianship at any time.

5. Voting

• Voters must verify an email address (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud or Rediffmail) or an Indian mobile number with a one-time code. Different spellings of the same inbox (for example dots or +tags in a Gmail address) are one voter.
• To protect fairness, votes from accounts created in the last 24 hours may be held back from the count until the account is a day old, and we may review, void or refuse votes that look automated or coordinated.
• Each verified voter gets one free vote per baby per day. Votes renew at midnight IST.
• Parents may vote for their own baby with their own free vote.
• Where available, voters can earn bonus votes by watching a short video to the end. Bonus votes are limited per baby and per voter each day, count towards the baby's total, and are subject to the same fraud checks.
• Bots, scripts, fake or borrowed numbers, vote-trading groups and any outside vote service are not allowed. We may limit the number of accounts that vote from one device.
• We may void votes and ban voters we reasonably believe broke these rules. Voided votes are removed from totals.

6. Rounds and schedule

Voting opens Sun, 15 Nov, 12:00 am IST. When registration closes, selected babies are drawn at random into even groups of up to 40, so no group is left with only a few babies. Babies compete only against their own group until the semifinal. Every round closes at 9 PM IST.

Ties are decided by (1) more free votes, then (2) whoever reached the tied total first, then (3) whoever entered first. We may extend a round if there's a technical problem, and we'll announce any change on this page.

7. Prizes

• Baby Of The Year (1 baby): ₹5,000
• First runner-up (1 baby): ₹3,000
• Second runner-up (1 baby): ₹2,000

Winners will be announced on or before Thu, 7 Jan, 9:00 pm IST. To claim a prize, the parent or guardian must, within 14 days of our message, provide proof of the baby's age and their guardianship (for example a birth certificate) and an Indian bank account in their name. Prizes are paid by bank transfer within 30 days of verification. If a winner can't be verified in time, the prize passes to the next-placed baby. Amounts are gross. Any tax required by law will be deducted at source. Prizes can't be transferred or exchanged.

8. Photos and your rights

You keep ownership of your photos. By entering, you give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to show your baby's first name, state, bio and photos on this website and in share images, for this season only, and to name the winners when we announce them. We won't use your baby's photos in advertising without asking you separately. You confirm you have the right to share the photos.

9. Hiding or deleting an entry

You can hide or delete your entry at any time from My babies. A baby that is hidden or deleted when a round closes leaves the competition. Deleting erases the photos immediately and can't be undone.

10. Conduct and disqualification

We may disqualify an entry, or ban a voter, for breaking these rules, giving false information, harassing other families, or any attempt to manipulate results. Before any prize is awarded we verify the parent's mobile number and may ask for identity proof, and we may withhold a prize if the votes behind a result were not genuine. Our decisions on eligibility, votes and results are final, subject to your rights under law.

11. Changes and cancellation

If something beyond our control (for example fraud we can't contain, a technical failure, or a legal requirement) stops the Competition running fairly, we may change the schedule, pause or cancel it. If we cancel before the final, we'll explain how prizes will be decided.

12. Liability and law

We aren't responsible for lost or late entries or votes caused by networks or devices outside our control. Nothing in these rules limits any liability that can't be limited by law. These rules are governed by the laws of India.

13. Questions and complaints

Write to support@babyoftheyear.in. For grievances, contact our Grievance Officer, , at grievance@babyoftheyear.in.