US EditionRose Parade 2026 Awards Announced: Top Honor Goes to Cal Poly Universities
Cal Poly Universities earned the Sweepstakes Trophy, the Rose Parade's top honor for beauty, marking the seventh time a self-built float has won this award.
- On January 1, 2026, Cal Poly Universities won the Sweepstakes Trophy at the 137th Tournament of Roses Parade with the student-built float Jungle Jumpstart, designed by Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
- The Sweepstakes Trophy is presented to the parade's most beautiful entry, judged this year by a three-person panel including Cathy Hillen-Rulloda, Doris Hardoon and Chaz Perea.
- Using 21,000 flowers and natural materials like ground coffee beans, curly willow and walnut shells, the Jungle Jumpstart float featured a 40-foot robot repaired by rainforest animals.
- The victory is notable because it is a first for Cal Poly Universities, and the Tournament of Roses awarded official honors to two dozen floats, marking the seventh Sweepstakes Trophy for a self-built float.
- Among other standouts, The UPS Store's undersea float featured a 34-foot-tall seahorse, 170,000 flowers and could qualify for a Guinness World Records claim.
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Daily Breeze
Redlands Daily FactsRose Parade 2026: It’s showers on the flowers in Pasadena for 137th Tournament of Roses
Despite a historic downpour and a few more empty seats than usual, the 137th Rose Parade pressed forward in the soggy air on Thursday, featuring marching bands, float riders, a Rose Court donning ponchos and tributes to the survivors and victims of what are now last year’s Los Angeles-area wildfires. The mammoth showcase lived up to its theme, “The Magic in Teamwork,” led by NBA legend and Grand Marshal Earvin “Magic” Johnson, leading more than …
The Mercury news
East Bay TimesRose Parade photos: 10 great floats from the 2026 celebration
It’s hard to pin down which floats go above and beyond each year in the annual Rose Parade. Created with planning that happens months — sometimes even years — out from the parade, each decked out with hundreds of flowers and hours of labor when they finally grace Colorado Boulevard, each float is designed to impress. RELATED: Wet musical instruments, a grounded B-2, ponchos everywhere, the first Rose Parade rain in 20 years made its mark There’s…
Cal Poly Float ‘Jungle Jumpstart’ Wins Sweepstake Award at 2026 Rose Parade
Cal Poly universities’ “Jungle Jumpstart” rainforest float, which showed how nature and technology work together to create a better world, received the Sweepstakes Award at the 137th Rose Parade held on a rainy New Year’s Day. The Sweepstakes Award — a first in the schools’ nearly eight decades in the parade — honors the most beautiful float overall. It is typically won by larger, commercially built floats or major organizations, not by self-bui…
Cal Poly's Rose Parade float wins top honors!
Cal Poly's float in the Rose Parade on New Year's Day took away top honors!They received the Sweepstake Award for the most beautiful entry at the 137th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. Students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona put together a "Jungle Jumpstart" themed float with a robot being repaired by a monkey, frog, lemur, jaguar and some tropical birds to go with the parade's theme "The Magic of Teamwork." KSBY spoke …
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