Understanding Competition Deadlines
A clear explanation of submission deadlines vs end dates and how they affect your competition timeline.
When you create a competition on Dine With Me, you will notice there are two important dates to set: the Submission Deadline and the End Competition date. They might seem similar at first glance, but they serve very different purposes and understanding them is the key to running a smooth, well-organized competition.
Let's break down exactly what each date means, how they work together, and how to choose the right timing for your group.
Two Dates, Two Purposes
Think of a cooking competition like a sports tournament. First, you need a registration period where players sign up. Then you need the actual tournament period where games are played and a winner is crowned. Dine With Me works the same way, just with dinner parties instead of matches.
This is the cutoff for people to join your competition. After this date, no new participants can sign up.
This is when everything wraps up. All dinners must be hosted, all ratings must be submitted, and the winner is determined.
The Submission Deadline
The Submission Deadline defines the window during which people can discover and join your competition. From the moment you create the competition until this date, your competition is open for new participants.
What happens during this period depends on whether your competition is public or private:
The minimum time between creating a competition and the submission deadline is 7 days. This ensures there is enough time for people to see the invitation, check their calendars, and commit to participating.
Once the submission deadline passes, the participant list is locked. No one else can join, and everyone who has signed up knows exactly who they will be competing against. Payments are also processed during this period, so all financial commitments are settled before the cooking begins.
The End Competition Date
The End Competition date is the grand finale. By this date, every participant must have:
When this date arrives, the platform automatically calculates the final scores, applies tiebreaker rules if necessary, announces the winner, and initiates the prize payout. It is the finish line of your competition.
The End Competition date must be at least 7 days after the Submission Deadline. This guarantees enough time for participants to coordinate schedules, host their dinners, and rate each other fairly.
The Full Timeline
Here is how a typical competition flows from start to finish:
Set up your competition with name, categories, dates, and entry fee
Invite friends or let people request to join. Entry fees are collected.
Registration closes. Participant list is locked in.
Why the Minimums Exist
You might wonder why Dine With Me requires at least 7 days for each phase. These minimums are not arbitrary — they are based on what makes competitions run smoothly in practice.
The 7-day minimum for the submission deadline gives people enough time to:
The 7-day minimum between the submission deadline and end date ensures there is enough time to:
Rushing a competition leads to missed dinners and incomplete ratings. The minimums are there to protect the experience for everyone involved.
What Happens Between the Two Dates
The period between the submission deadline and the end date is where the real fun happens. This is the active competition phase, and here is what participants will be doing:
Participants coordinate with each other to find dates that work for everyone. Each person hosts one dinner where they cook and serve their dish to the group.
This is the heart of it. Each participant plans their menu, shops for ingredients, cooks their signature dish, and hosts a dinner party. This is what Dine With Me is all about — real food, real homes, real connection.
After attending each dinner, participants rate the host's dish across all the competition's categories (Taste, Presentation, Creativity, and any custom ones). All ratings must be submitted before the end date. Learn more about how scoring works in our Rating Categories guide.
Tips for Choosing the Right Dates
The right timeframe depends on your group and the type of competition you are running. Here are some practical guidelines:
If you are organizing a competition among close friends who already know each other, you can keep both windows relatively short. A 7 to 10-day submission window and a 10 to 14-day competition period usually works well since coordination is easier with people who already have each other's schedules.
For public competitions where participants may not know each other, give more time. A 14 to 21-day submission window allows for wider discovery, and a 21 to 30-day competition period gives strangers enough room to coordinate dinner schedules without stress.
Running a Christmas cooking competition or a summer barbecue showdown? Set your submission deadline a week or two before the holiday, and the end date a few days after. This way, the dinners naturally happen around the celebration itself.