Awards Category: Awards sa 2026 people

This award recognizes the heads of agencies nationally who have individually done the most to advance their agency/network in the industry.

The AI Person/Team of the Year recognizes outstanding individuals or teams driving innovation, strategic leadership, and measurable impact with AI within the advertising and marketing communications industry. This award celebrates those transforming campaigns, consumer engagement, and industry standards through advanced AI technologies.

This award is for the planning professionals who have made the biggest impact on their clients’ businesses through the development of innovative customer engagement strategies, the creative and effective use of media channels, and the creation, use, and leverage of digital and social programmes/platforms.

This award is open to the agency’s corporate communications/marketing team, which recognizes success in addressing issues related to management, corporate communications, reputation, brand-building, campaign execution, and media relations within their agency. *This category is not for brands.

This award recognizes top-level creative leaders with over 10 years of experience (Group Creative Directors/Executive Creative Directors/Chief Creative Officers or above) who have produced the best work for an individual office (or multiple offices in the same region) during the review period and have not only set the standard for creative excellence but have also raised the bar. The nominee will have demonstrated outstanding creative leadership in building and nurturing creativity across the creative team and the agency. Samples of the nominee’s work will be required as evidence of success.

This award recognises agency teams that push the boundaries of innovation by seamlessly integrating technology and creativity to transform client marketing performance. It honours teams that lead with experimentation and data-driven thinking, leveraging MarTech, data, and emerging technologies to deliver measurable impact and advance industry best practice.

This award is for the new business development person/team that has proven to have built and developed a new account or grown the business and expanded the services of an established client relationship.

This award is open to professionals who have brought out innovative insights with strategies throughout their work, managing creative campaigns to drive and meet business objectives.

This award is for the planning professionals who have made the biggest impact on the client’s business through the development of breakthrough consumer, brand, and communications strategies, as well as innovation and commercial strategy development.

Open to professionals with 5-7 years of professional experience, with some flexibility only for those slightly above or below this range. This award honors individuals who have demonstrated exceptional achievements, creativity, and innovation, along with a commitment to expanding their skill sets and delivering impactful results.