Wisconsin businesses make a lot of cool things, but Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce needs your help to determine The Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin for 2026.
WMC, the combined state chamber of commerce and manufacturers association, and BMO, the contest's presenting sponsor, have opened nominations for the annual award that showcases Wisconsin-based manufacturers' ingenuity in industries from agriculture to advanced technologies.
"We support manufacturers across Wisconsin with expertise and resources to help them grow, invest and compete, while saluting their dedication and the innovative products and services made right here in our state. We look forward to celebrating the remarkable companies that continue to strengthen Wisconsin's economy and reinforce our state's leadership in manufacturing," said Andrew Roethe, BMO Commercial Bank's managing director and market executive for Southwest Wisconsin Commercial Banking, in a news release.
The Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin is now in its 11th year. WMC in 2016 was the first to launch this sort of statewide contest and it has grown since then. The organization said 26 state chambers of commerce or manufacturing associations host similar programs.
"For more than a decade, this contest has helped spotlight the innovation and talent that make Wisconsin a manufacturing powerhouse," said Kurt R. Bauer, WMC's president and CEO, in a news release.
The contest is meant to be fun and light-hearted way to celebrate manufacturing, but there are a few rules to know before you nominate something. To qualify, a product needs to:
Be made at a Wisconsin-based facility.
Involve a manufacturing process (an example: mass-producing frozen pizzas qualifies, a restaurant making made-to-order pizzas would not).
Only one product per company can make the top 16.
Winning companies can't enter the next year and any product that's won cannot be nominated again.
The nominating form requires basic information like the product name, company name, a description, a contact person at the company and an image of the product.
Nominations for this year's contest are open through Sept. 11 and will be followed by several rounds of voting to narrow the field of contenders. Here's this year's schedule:
Sept. 21-29: Popular vote determines this year's 16 Coolest Thing contenders
Oct. 2-7: Top 16 face off in head-to-head votes
Oct. 8-13: Top 8 face off in head-to-head votes
Oct. 15-27: Popular vote to pick the winner
Oct. 27: Winner announced live during WMC's annual Business Day event in Madison.
Voting is open to the public. You can only cast one vote per day during open voting.
And if you try use bots or any other method to stuff the ballot box in an attempt to circumvent the one vote per device per day rule, WMC could opt to disqualify the nominee.
Marion-based 1000 Island Airboats took its place last year in the Coolest Thing pantheon as the 10th product bestowed with the honor.
WMC since 2016 has asked voters to pick a "Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin" in order to highlight the state's manufacturing industry. Wisconsin's more than 9,000 manufacturing companies employ about 500,000 people and contribute almost $73.8 billion to the state economy.
2016: Harley-Davidson's Milwaukee Eight Engine
2017: Oshkosh Corp.'s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle
2018: De Pere-based Uncle Mike's Bake Shoppe sea salt caramel pecan kringle
2019: Rice Lake-based Henry Repeating Arms' Big Boy all-weather rifle
2020: Mequon-based MūL Technologies Mobile Autonomous Robotic Cart (MARC)
2021: Manitowoc-based Broadwind's 140-ton Navy Crane
2022: Appleton-based Pierce Manufacturing's Volterra electric fire truck
2023: Fox Valley-based Plexus Corp.'s Bevi Bottleless Water Dispenser
2024: Random Lake-based Jolly Good Soda
2025: Marion-based 1000 Island Airboats
Contact business reporter Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or [email protected]. Follow him on X at @JeffBollier.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: What's the Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin? WMC opens 2026 nominations