Entries are now being accepted for the 2026 Princeton Junior Woman’s Club Homestead Baby Contest. Entrants must be Bureau County residents under 24 months of age as of September 11, 2026. Contest entries must be emailed to princetonjuniors@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. local time on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

To enter, email a high resolution, snapshot sized color photograph of the child to princetonjuniors@gmail.com. Please refrain from entering photos that have been cropped or altered. Also, no professional photographs will be accepted. The email must also include the child’s name, sex, birthdate, and address, along with the parent’s name and two contact phone numbers.

In person voting will begin at noon on Friday, August 14 and continue until noon on Friday, September 11. The voting canisters will be displayed at Midland States Bank (August 14-21), First State Bank (August 21-28), Central Bank (August 28-September 4)and Heartland Bank – South Branch (September 4-11). The canisters will be moved around noon on Fridays. Each child will have a canister with his/her corresponding photograph in which votes can be placed.

PJWC will again be accepting Venmo to collect votes. To vote through Venmo, send your chosen transaction amount to @P-Juniors-71. Voters must include the baby’s name in the “What’s it for?” line. Venmo votes will only be accepted from noon on Friday, August 14th to noon on Thursday, September 10th.

One dollar equals 100 votes. All votes will be tallied and winners will be notified September 11th and introduced during that evening’s Homestead Festival announcements.

Prizes will be given to the boy and girl winners, as well as the boy and girl runners up. All winners and their parents will have a spot in the Homestead Festival parade on Saturday, September 12th.

The Princeton Junior Woman’s Club is a 501(c)(3) organization and proceeds from this contest will be donated back through various club projects to communities and organizations within Bureau County.