Doughnuts, once a simple comfort food, are now part of a competitive celebration of the best craft treats around Chicago.

The third annual Donut Fest is scheduled for Jan. 31 at 1st Ward Events at Chop Shop, 2033 W. North Ave. This year, the sold-out event has been expanded to two sessions with nine different bakeries participating in each session and six additional vendors providing coffee and tea, as of press time.

“I was expecting [Donut Fest] to be popular, [but] I wasn’t expecting such a response,” said Rebecca Skoch, Donut Fest’s founder.

Donut Fest also ventured to New York this year, Skoch said, adding that she hopes the event will translate well to New York’s culture.

She said no plans for either city’s event will be made until she knows whether the event can run smoothly outside of Chicago. She added that New York and Chicago fests will offer similar experiences although the participating bakeries will be local. 

Skoch said Donut Fest benefits a local charity, Un86’d, which provides assistance to restaurant industry workers who have been injured or who are ill.

“It’s really nice to give back to the people who help make [Donut Fest] happen,” Skoch said.

Skoch added that the festival will offer more doughnuts through the extra vendors participating in the second session. She added there will still be one award for “Best Donut” chosen by judges, but the fest will have a winner from each session in the category of Crowd Favorite. 

Firecakes Donuts, located at 68 W. Hubbard St. and 2453 N. Clark St., won “Best Donut” in 2015 with the Tahitian vanilla bean-iced doughnut with white chocolate pearls in the competition last year, said owner Jonathan Fox. 

“[Winning ‘Best Donut’] was very gratifying, and we appreciate people seeing the level of detail and quality of products we put into our doughnuts,” Fox said.

He could not reveal anything about this year’s entry other than how different it is from last year’s.

For the last two years, West Town Bakery, 1916 W. Chicago Ave., won the People’s Choice award, but another bakery will take home the prize this year because West Town is not participating in 2016, said Chris Teixeira, West Town Bakery executive pastry chef and partner.

“We didn’t get the judges’ pick, but we got the approval of the crowd,” Teixeira said.

Teixeira said West Town Bakery made the decision not to participate this year because the bakery will launch its confection line, and the staff needed to focus on that. He said the bakery plans on returning to the fest next year.

West Town Bakery entered a blueberry jam doughnut with lemon cream drizzled with white chocolate and almonds in 2015.

Leah Haselhorst, manager at 1st Ward Events, said this is her first time working with Donut Fest, but this is 1st Ward Events’ third year hosting. She said the company hopes to host future fests as well.

“From what I’ve heard about Donut Fest in the past, it has gone very well,” Haselhorst said. “It’s a big undertaking, and the line is out the door for most of the day.”

Chop Shop, the restaurant partnered with 1st Ward Events, a venue for special events, plans to enter an Italian-inspired doughnut as well as hosting this year, Haselhorst said.

“We’re really excited to be part of Donut Fest and that they offered our chef [the opportunity]  to make doughnuts for it,” Haselhorst said.

Donut Fest is scheduled to have sessions at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Jan. 31 at 1st Ward Events at Chop Shop. More information is available at DonutFest.com.