JR. CAPTAIN

2026 Winterfest Foundation Jr. Captain Contest

Winterfest® Jr. Captain Program
Celebrating Amanda’s Legacy

The Winterfest® Jr. Captain Program, powered by FPL and moved by TWO MEN AND A TRUCK, honors the legacy of 15-year-old Amanda Blake, whose courageous battle with osteosarcoma inspired a Winterfest® tradition that continues today.

Calling All Broward County Non-Profits!

Nominate a child ages 7–16 who best represents the services from your Broward County nonprofit for the 2026 Winterfest® Jr. Captain Program.

Beginning in September, nominees will be featured in a social media voting contest, giving each child and organization the opportunity to share their story and mission. All nominees will ride aboard the Santa Showboat presented by Amazon during the Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest® Boat Parade.

One winner will be named the 2026 Winterfest® Jr. Captain, with their name and nonprofit organization featured in lights aboard the Jr. Captain Showboat powered by FPL and TWO MEN AND A TRUCK.

The winning Jr. Captain will celebrate in the Parade with 25 guests!

Nominate through WooBox

Nominate Directly

ALL SUBMISSIONS FOR NOMINATION MUST INCLUDE:

Non-Profit Organization

Name: (required)

Address Street

Address City, State, Zip

Phone

Website

Contact for the Non-Profit

First Name (required)

Last Name (required)

Title

Email (required)

Nominee

First Name (required)

Last Name (required)

Nominee Age

Nominee's Story (required)

Nominee's Picture (required)

Allowed file types: .jpg, .jpeg

Parent/Legal Guardian

First Name (required)

Last Name (required)

Address Street

Address City, State, Zip

Cell Phone

Email (required)

Parent/Guardian Consent (required)
I do hereby consent that the child noted above, a minor, be allowed to participate in the 2026-2027 Winterfest Jr. Captain Contest with his/her photo, name and association with (name of charity) to be used for voting/contest promotional purposes. The Winterfest Foundation and Winterfest, Inc. reserves the right to use the image(s) of the nominee in all promotional materials, but not limited to, brochures, website, social media, etc. By entering the contest and/or attending Winterfest events, you consent to interview(s), photography, audio recording, video recording and its/their release, publication, exhibition, or reproduction to be used for news, webcasts, promotional purposes, telecasts, advertising, inclusion on websites, social media, or any other purpose by The Winterfest Foundation and its affiliates and representatives. Images, photos and/or videos may be used to promote similar The Winterfest Foundation / Winterfest, Inc. events in the future, highlight the event and exhibit the capabilities of Winterfest, Inc. / The Winterfest Foundation. You release The Winterfest Foundation / Winterfest, Inc., its officers and employees, and each and all persons involved from any liability connected with this contest, attending related events and connected in the taking, recording, digitizing, or publication and use of interviews, photographs, computer images, video and/or-or sound recordings. Please Note: Your Contact information is sent separately to the Winterfest Foundation. Your Photos/Video, Nominees Story are submitted separately under the submission button.

NOMINATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED
The Non-Profit Organization will be emailed once the Nominee has been accepted. This is a social media contest using Facebook.

Voting begins in September on Facebook. You may continue to nominate since there are ROLLING SUBMISSIONS. One lucky winner will be selected via the most votes on Social Media.

If you are unable to fill out the embedded form on this site, CLICK HERE to download the 2026 Winterfest Foundation Jr. Captain nomination form and parent/guardian consent form.

For a copy of the Flyer, CLICK HERE

Once approved and voting starts – you will receive a direct link to your nominee’s voting platform.

Photos / Story submissions can also be uploaded using Instagram and Facebook (we do not use X because of the word count).

UPLOADING A SUBMISSION USING INSTAGRAM: the account has to be public in order for the entry to be recognized and pulled in using the hashtag #WFJrCaptainNominee2025.

UPLOADING A SUBMISSION USING FACEBOOK: because of Facebook policy disallowing sharing on personal pages to enter a contest, the entry must be posted on the Winterfest Foundation business page’s timeline (https://www.facebook.com/winterfest.parade) with the hashtag #WFJrCaptainNominee2025 . If approved, it will be shared on the Winterfest Foundation Page and seen in the Gallery (Voting) of the Woobox platform.

If it is not approved – the post will be removed from our social media platform.

Past Jr. Parade Captains

2025: Sydney Salas representing Chiari’s Little Warriors

2024: Nicholas Menendez representing YMCA of South Florida

2023: Ben Avalon representing Freedom Waters

2022: Luna Maria representing Forza Stefano Charitable Foundation

2021: Violet Martin representing Florida Youth Orchestra

2020: Dantonio Frazier Jr. representing Jack & Jill Children’s Center

2019: Emma Sorensen representing Make-A-Wish South Florida

2018: Thomas Boegler representing The Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital at Broward Health

2017: Grayson Zrelak representing Deliver The Dream

2016: Daniel Moreno representing the Ann Storck Center

2015: Madison Smith representing Cure SMA – Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) type 2

2014: Alex Casamento representing the Arthritis Foundation, Florida Chapter, SE Region. He was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) at the age of five and is one of 300,000 kids in the U.S. who suffers from this painful and incurable disease.

2013: Lauren Bendesky who was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma. Her fight and optimistic attitude is the reason “A Prom to Remember” nominated as their representative in the Parade. Lauren was aboard the Jr. Captain Showboat powered by FPL

2012: Sydney Lister diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma (Facebook winner with 927 votes).

2011: Five year old Martina Bello diagnosed with Leukemia sponsored by the James Jr. Fund.

2010: Alison Marchessault – Born with the Recessive form of Polycystic Kidney Disease, Alison Marchessault has spent so much of her life in hospitals. She is an extremely bright, beautiful and happy young woman. Starlight Children’s Foundation has been one of Alison’s favorite organizations over the years and she participated in the parade on the Florida Marlin’s Boat highlighted this charity.

2009: TheWinterfest^® Jr. Captain was created as a legacy of 15-year-old Amanda Blake who battled osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.