WCBI Cutest Couple Contest 2026: How Voting Works & How to Win

What the WCBI Cutest Couple Contest is and who votes in it

The Cutest Couple Contest is a winter promotion staged by WCBI-TV, the television station whose headquarters stand at 201 5th Street South in Columbus, Mississippi. It belongs to the family of user-submitted photo ballots that local broadcasters run to pull their audience into a friendly, seasonal competition. Couples enter themselves, the station posts the entries, and the audience decides the winner by voting.

The reason this ballot draws real participation is that the subject is personal. Unlike a business rankings contest, where a shop campaigns for customer loyalty, a couple ballot turns every entry into a small fan base of partners, friends, coworkers and relatives. Support arrives through direct asks, not through browsing, which is why stations like WCBI-TV keep the format in rotation.

The vote itself is hosted on Second Street, the same contest platform that carries the station's other promotions, and the ballot page lives at wcbi.secondstreetapp.com/WCBI-Cutest-Couple-Contest-2026. Everything a supporter needs, from the entry gallery to the vote button, sits on that single page. If you want to see how this kind of ballot sits beside other reader-driven competitions in the state, the Daily Journal Readers Choice in Tupelo is a good comparison point.

The 2026 window and the contest's edition history

The 2026 ballot carried a listing window from January 30 through February 12, and the station's own announcement sharpened that picture for supporters: "Enter now and vote starting Thursday, February 5." That means entries opened first, and public voting began five days into the run. By the time February 12 passed, the promotion had closed on Second Street.

This is not a first-time event. The station's Second Street pages show a Cutest Couple promotion in 2025 as well as the 2026 edition, and both cycles ran on the same wcbi.secondstreetapp.com host. That two-year run is the whole published history here; nothing on the ballot says how many cycles ran before 2025, and the station has not announced a 2027 edition.

The gap that matters most to a supporter is the fine print. WCBI has not published the list of couple categories, any per-supporter vote limit, or the eligibility terms for entries; confirm on the live ballot each cycle. Because the platform enforces whatever rules the station configures, the printed terms on the ballot are the sole authority on how repeat voting is treated.

One practical note on dates: the 2026 window closed in mid February, which puts the promotion in the weeks around Valentine's season, a natural fit for a couple-themed ballot. If the station stages a 2027 edition, expect the new page to carry its own fresh dates rather than reusing these.

How a supporter votes for a couple today

Voting support for a couple takes place entirely on the Second Street ballot page. A supporter opens wcbi.secondstreetapp.com/WCBI-Cutest-Couple-Contest-2026, browses the gallery of couple photos, selects the pair to back, and submits. The promotion is typed as a photo voting contest, so the picture is the entry: there is no essay, no video and no separate ballot form to work through.

Second Street ballots sometimes ask a supporter to register an email address or sign in before a vote counts. Whether this contest requires that step is printed on the page when you reach the vote button, so follow whatever the ballot asks in the moment. The station's announcement framed the action simply: enter and vote starting February 5, with no purchase mentioned anywhere in the promotion.

The most common way a supporter's vote fails to count is voting somewhere other than the live ballot: a screenshot of the gallery, a repost of an old link, or a page that looks like the contest but sits on a different domain. The station's ballot is the only place votes register, and the Best of Mississippi ballot runs on the same principle for its own readers.

Supporters who plan to return should treat the printed rules as the schedule. If the ballot allows repeat visits, come back as often as it permits; if it limits votes per person, respect that limit, because the platform can set aside votes that break it. The rules live on the page, and they are the station's word on the matter.

How this ballot sits beside other Mississippi fan votes

Mississippi runs a busy slate of public-vote promotions, and the Cutest Couple ballot holds a niche of its own within that slate. The large reader ballots, like Best of the Best Jackson, Best of Coastal Mississippi and Best of Oxford, span dozens of business categories and run for months. The Cutest Couple Contest is the opposite shape: one themed subject, a short winter window, and an audience made of personal networks rather than a newspaper readership.

The sports side of the slate is different again. The C Spire Conerly Trophy Fan Vote rallies college basketball fans around an award, where a couple ballot rallies families and friend groups around a photo. What the two share is the mechanic: a public vote on a named platform, won by whoever mobilizes the most genuine support.

For WCBI-TV, the contest is one promotion among several the station runs on Second Street, alongside gallery and sweepstakes ballots that keep the audience returning to wcbi.com year round. The Cutest Couple edition stands out because its support base is built from couples campaigning for themselves, which makes the per-entry effort personal and the sharing rate high.

That difference matters for anyone strategizing. A couple cannot lean on a customer base or a sports fan community; the campaign is won on direct asks, a memorable entry photo, and disciplined use of whatever voting frequency the ballot allows.

Strengthening support in a couple photo vote

In a ballot this personal, support grows from three honest levers. First, the entry photo carries the campaign: couples with a clear, warm picture get shared more, and shares are what convert a friend's idle scroll into a vote. Second, the direct Second Street link is the only link worth sending, because every hop through a copied or lookalike page risks losing the vote.

Third, timing. The station's window ran from late January into mid February, and the announcement told readers voting started February 5. A couple that rallies its network on opening day banks support before casual browsers vote at all, then returns as the rules allow through the close on February 12.

On outside help, the fair statement is about the organizer: WCBI-TV sets the rules on its ballot and can act on entries that break them, so a couple should read the printed terms before any push that goes beyond friends and family. Nothing here suggests a purchase is required, and the option, if considered, is described neutrally on buy award votes.