The iPRES 2026 Programme Committee has announced the return of the Digital Preservation Bake Off, taking place as part of this year’s International Conference on Digital Preservation in Copenhagen from 21–25 September 2026. The Call for Contributions is now open.
While no actual baking is involved, the Bake Off has become a much-loved part of the iPRES programme, combining a playful format with serious digital preservation challenges, live demonstrations, and practical problem-solving.
The iPRES 2026 Tools Demo Session invites participants to showcase how their tools, workflows, or approaches respond to real-world digital preservation scenarios. Previous “Bakers” have included software developers, vendors, practitioners, and digital preservation specialists demonstrating everything from highly focused workflows to complete end-to-end preservation solutions.
Two weeks before the conference, participants will receive a shared set of files and requirements (known as “The Pantry”) from which they will select their “ingredients” for the live session. During the Bake Off itself, Bakers will demonstrate how their chosen approach meets the challenge, followed by audience discussion and feedback.
iPRES 2026 is welcoming submissions across a broad range of digital preservation tools, systems, and workflows, with two tracks available for 2026:
Track 1: The Signature Home Bake
Celebrating practical ingenuity, this track is aimed at practitioners who may not work as software developers but have created scripts, lightweight tools, or clever workflows to solve real preservation challenges in their day-to-day work.
Track 2: The Showstopper Pro Bake
A professional showcase for software developers and vendors, focused on demonstrating one specific feature, workflow, or capability with clarity and precision.
Submissions for the Digital Preservation Bake Off are open until 8 June 2026 (End of Day, Anywhere on Earth).
To help prospective participants learn more about the process, the organizing committee will also host informal “Open Kitchen Hours” on 22 May 2026. These drop-in Zoom sessions offer an opportunity to ask questions about the tracks, the Pantry, or the Bake Off format itself, with separate sessions available for different time zones.
Further details, including submission information and registration links for the Open Kitchen Hours sessions, are available via the iPRES 2026 Bake Off page.