Budtender of the Year
Somebody behind a counter made your day once. Return the favour.
EnglishDeutschNederlandsFrançaisČeština
Not the shop of the year. Not the menu of the year. The person. The one who remembered what you liked last time, who didn’t roll their eyes at the terpene question, who talked you out of the edible when you were already a bit wobbly, who was patient with the tourist in front of you for eleven full minutes and still smiled at you afterwards.
POLYC finds them, names them, and puts them in a very comfortable hoodie.
Who counts as a budtender
A budtender is the person who hands adults their cannabis or hemp across whatever counter their country allows, and answers the questions that come with it. Paid or volunteer, staff or member, it doesn’t matter. Owners count when they work the counter themselves.
The counter looks different in every country, so the title is loose on purpose. In the Netherlands it’s the coffeeshop, and the growshops, headshops and smartshops. In Germany it’s the member who does the hand-out at a cultivation club, the club’s prevention officer, and the staff of headshops, growshops and hemp shops. In Switzerland it’s the pharmacy staff and the club people in the pilot projects. In Czechia it’s the growshops and hemp shops, and the pharmacist. In Belgium, France, Austria and Luxembourg it’s the CBD and hemp shops. If the counter is legal where you are and an adult walks up to it with a question, the person on the other side qualifies.
Each country’s page says it in its own words: Deutsch, Nederlands, Français, Čeština.
One award for all of Europe, this year
In its first year, Budtender of the Year is judged as a single European field. Every nomination from every country goes into the same pile and the editor picks the best story. If a country sends in enough nominations, it gets its own category next year. The way to get a German, Czech or French category is to nominate German, Czech and French budtenders.
Four things to think about
You don’t have to pick one, but they help.
The Nose. Can describe a jar so well you can practically smell it through the counter.
Saint of Patience. Tourists, questions, more tourists, more questions. Still smiling.
The Honest One. Said “not this one, you’ll hate it”, and was right.
Best Surprise. Recommended something you’d never have picked, and now it’s your favourite.
How to nominate
Tell us their name or nickname, the city, where they work so we can find them, and why. Write it in any language you like; the form’s labels are in English, your words don’t have to be. A funny story helps. The workplace is contact information only: it is never published and it is deleted after the issue prints. Your own name is never published either.
Nominations close 5 December 2026; the form shuts at the end of 6 December, Amsterdam time. The winner is announced in No. 02, in January. The prize is the title, their story in the magazine, and a one-of-a-kind POLYC Budtender of the Year hoodie, which is soft, warm and impossible to be humble in.
What happens to a nominee
We write to every nominee. Nobody’s name appears anywhere until they have signed a release and chosen how they are named: first name, nickname or full name, with a photograph or without one. We print a name and a city, never a workplace. A nominee who does nothing stays completely private, and that is fine.
Nominees who say yes appear here as their releases arrive, then in the January issue, and on this site through 2027.
The nominees
None yet. The first names go up as the releases come in, from November.
People, not premises: we never name or rank shops. Adults only: nominators and nominees are 18 or over. Chosen, not drawn: the editor picks the best story, it isn't a lottery and there's nothing to buy. What you send is used to run the award and for nothing else; the [privacy policy](privacy.html) has the detail.