What is Exposure Skate? The women’s skateboarding event and nonprofit, explained

Exposure Skate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in North San Diego County that runs Exposure, an annual skateboarding contest for women, girls and nonbinary skaters, held every fall at Encinitas Community Park. It calls Exposure the world’s largest and longest-running women’s skateboarding event. The nonprofit also runs free learn-to-skate clinics through the year, and the event raises money for survivors of domestic violence.

For a family, Exposure Skate is two things. It is a weekend in November where your daughter can watch Olympians and 10-year-olds skate the same park for free, or enter herself. And it is Skate Rising, free clinics held through the year where girls 4 to 16 learn to skate from pro and Olympic skaters.

Exposure is open to women and girls from anywhere in the world, and Exposure Skate describes its community as women, trans and nonbinary skaters competing together. There are no age groups. Each skater picks a division by ability in each discipline, and the organizers’ advice is to challenge yourself.

The 2026 divisions

Is it really for kids?

Yes. The intermediate divisions are mostly kids. In 2025, 29 skaters entered Bowl Intermediate, and going by the ages The Boardr lists for them today, 23 are 12 or younger. Even in the 2025 Open/Pro bowl final, seven of the eight skaters are listed as 15 or younger.

• She sees what is possible. Kids, pros and Olympians skate the same park on the same weekend. Exposure Skate says 60% of the women who have skated in the Olympics got their competitive start at Exposure.
• The whole contest is hers. It is not one girls’ division added to a bigger event. In 2025 Exposure had about 200 entries across its divisions.
• It is free to watch. No tickets. There is a vendor village with games and food trucks, and free learn-to-skate clinics for all ages.
• It is close to home. For a Southern California family, a contest that draws skaters from around the world is a drive away.
• It stands for something. The nonprofit’s aim is “empowerment through skateboarding and compassion through service,” and the event raises money for a local domestic violence shelter.

Exposure 2026 runs Friday to Sunday, November 6–8, 2026. Street qualifiers are on Friday, bowl is on Saturday, and vert and the street finals are on Sunday.

A short domestic violence awareness presentation is on Sunday’s schedule, at the vert ramp before the Street Open/Pro contest.

Exposure runs jams, not solo runs with the park to yourself. A small group of skaters shares the course and takes turns. The formats below are the ones posted for 2026.

• Bowl: groups of five. Each skater gets three runs of 40 seconds, skating in order, and a run ends when she falls. Only her best run is scored. The top 8 go to a final in the same format.
• Vert: the same idea with 30-second runs. Three runs in Intermediate, four in Open/Pro.
• Street Intermediate and Advanced: three skaters share the course for a three-minute jam. The top 8 go to Sunday’s finals, which are three-minute jams of two skaters.
• Street Open/Pro: two-skater jams of three minutes. The top 8 then get three one-minute runs each, and the best one counts.
• Side contests: longest grind and longest slide in the bowl, highest air on the vert ramp, and best trick. The street best trick session is open to everyone.

What the judges look for

Judges score an overall impression of each run or jam. The posted criteria are commitment and creativity, using the whole ramp, bowl or course, how far she travels through airs, slides and grinds, and speed, style, flow and power. Good lines matter, and new or difficult tricks are rewarded.

Our guide to competing in skateboarding explains runs, jams and best trick in more detail, and what to bring.

1. 1.Go to The Boardr. Exposure’s registration, start lists and results are run by The Boardr, a skateboarding events company. Start at its Exposure 2026 page.
2. 2.Pick a discipline and a division. Street, bowl or vert, then Intermediate, Advanced or Open/Pro. Enter only one ability level in each discipline.
3. 3.Pay the entry fee. In 2026 each division is listed at $100.
4. 4.Sign the waiver. Everyone who skates needs one, and it can be done online ahead of time.
5. 5.Check in and check the start lists. The registration desk opens the Thursday before, and start lists go up on The Boardr that evening.

Is there prize money?

Yes, in the Open/Pro divisions. The purse posted on the 2026 event page totals $57,300. First place in Open/Pro street, vert and bowl each pays $6,000, and prize money runs down to eighth place. The best trick and longest grind contests pay cash too. No prize money is listed for the Intermediate or Advanced divisions.

Still choosing her setup? See our skateboard buying guide.

Skate Rising, for girls 4 to 16

Skate Rising is Exposure Skate’s youth program, started in 2016. Each session pairs a learn-to-skate clinic, taught by local and visiting pros and Olympians, with a short lesson and a hands-on service project. Past projects include making blankets for local shelters and packing back-to-school backpacks. It is free for girls who register in advance, and safety gear is provided.

In 2026 sessions have run on Saturday mornings from 10am to noon, most at LVLUP USA in Vista and one at Encinitas Community Park. The next one on the calendar is in December 2026. Dates are on Exposure Skate’s events page.

Other programs

• Sesh(E): free learn-to-skate clinics for women and nonbinary skaters 16 and older. Exposure says it has taught skaters as old as 86.
• Exposure Week at Woodward: a themed week at the Woodward skate camps. In 2026 it was August 2–8 at Woodward in Pennsylvania, for girls 7 to 17. It is a paid camp, and Exposure shares a discount code.
• College scholarships: since 2020, two $5,000 scholarships a year for women and nonbinary skaters who give back to their communities, run with the College Skateboarding Education Foundation.
• Free clinics at Exposure: in 2025 the November event had free learn-to-skate clinics for all ages on both mornings.

The cause it supports

Since the first event, Exposure has raised money for survivors of domestic violence. It gives each year to the Community Resource Center in Encinitas and its emergency shelter, Carol’s House. By its own count, Exposure Skate has helped raise about $300,000.

Exposure is a showcase, not a step on a qualifying ladder. Nothing on its pages says a result earns a spot in another series or on a national team. What it does give a skater is experience on a big stage, a result on The Boardr, and time in front of the pros, brands and media who come to watch.

• Results earn points in The Boardr’s Global Rankings. In 2025 they ran from 500 points for an intermediate qualifier to 2,000 for an Open/Pro final.
• In 2024 and 2025 the Open/Pro contests were streamed live online.
• It includes vert, which the Olympics do not. Olympic skateboarding is street and park.

Exposure and the other names in skateboarding

The full ladder, from a first local contest to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, is in our guide, So you want to compete in skateboarding.

Exposure grew out of a film. In 2012 skater Amelia Brodka finished Underexposed, a documentary about how few opportunities there were for women in skateboarding. Exposure Skate says women’s divisions had been cut from the major contests at the time. Brodka and Lesli Cohen put on the first Exposure that year, with 32 competitors by the organization’s count.

• 2016: Skate Rising starts. Exposure Skate says that by then the event had the largest prize purse in women’s skateboarding.
• 2020: the field reaches 230 skaters, by its count. The college scholarships begin.
• 2020 and 2021: Exposure runs a women’s video part contest with Thrasher magazine. Brodka skates for Poland when skateboarding makes its Olympic debut.
• 2026: the 15th annual Exposure, November 6–8 in Encinitas.

Brodka is still the nonprofit’s president and executive director, and Cohen is its vice president and treasurer.

Yes, and it is free. Exposure 2026 is at the Encinitas Community Park skatepark, 425 Santa Fe Drive, on November 6–8. Alongside the contests there is a family-friendly vendor village with games and prizes, food trucks, and learn-to-skate clinics for all ages.

If she skates bowl, go Saturday. If she skates street or wants to see vert, go Sunday. In 2025 the vendor village was open from 9am to 4:30pm each day, and organizers asked visitors to park at an overflow lot and ride a free shuttle. Check the Exposure 2026 page for this year’s details.

Exposure and other skate contests near you are on our events page.