A fresh approach: Why winning a Mumbrella Award will mean even more in 2026
Mumbrella Awards 2025
The Mumbrella Awards return for 2026 with a refreshed structure and new categories designed to better reflect how media and marketing work is being created, executed and measured today.
The Awards are open for entries now.
This year’s program introduces a clearer framework, grouping categories across Campaign Excellence, Craft and Innovation, Specialist Disciplines, Agency and Team Awards, and Culture and Values. The intention is to create distinctions between different forms of excellence, from big integrated ideas to specialist capability, creative craft, leadership and workplace culture, while supporting more consistent judging.
At the campaign level, the Awards place greater emphasis on how ideas perform in the real world. Categories such as Creative Effectiveness, Omnichannel Campaign of the Year, Small Budget, Big Impact and Purpose and Impact Campaign recognise work that delivers outcomes, not just attention. The expanded Craft and Innovation categories reflect a renewed focus on execution, covering film, design, digital and UX, real-time marketing, AI and emerging technologies, alongside the long-standing TV Ad of the Year.
Specialist disciplines are more clearly defined, with categories recognising excellence across media, retail media, influencer and creator strategy, experiential, content marketing, data and insight, sustainability and pro bono work. Together, they acknowledge the depth and maturity in once-niche areas of the industry.
At the organisational level, the Agency and Team Awards continue to recognise sustained performance, commercial impact and leadership. Alongside Agency of the Year categories, new awards such as Brand of the Year and Holdco of the Year reflect the increasingly complex ecosystems in which brands and agencies operate. HoldCo of the year will recognise the holding company with the most awarded and shotlisted agency contributions.
Emerging Talent of the Year shifts focus toward contribution and progression, removing the age component in recognition of shifts in career trajectory. The Awards require AI disclosure, recognising that while the use of AI tools has become a standard part of most marketers’ workflows, requiring entrants to disclose where and how AI was used in the creation or delivery of their work ensures transparency and helps judges assess creative intent alongside technological execution.
The Awards are judged across two rounds. An jury of more than 100 senior marketers, CMOs and industry leaders determines the shortlist, before finalists in select categories undertake a second round of face-to-face judging. In 2026, this includes PR, emerging agency, experiential and promo marketing, independent, full-service and specialist agency categories, allowing jurors to interrogate submissions in greater depth. To ensure fairness, transparency and consistency across all categories, the 2026 Mumbrella Awards will adopt a standardised three-pillar judging model.
In 2025, the jury comprised around 100 industry leaders, including chief marketers from brands such as Netflix, Specsavers, Kraft Heinz, American Express, Lion, The Iconic, Youi Insurance, NAB and CommBank, underscoring the Awards’ commercial credibility and relevance.
Industry Leader of the Year remains a cornerstone of the awards program. In 2026, finalists will present live at Mumbrella360, with a limited all-of-industry vote forming part of the final outcome. Commercially sensitive information will be shared confidentially with jurors only, ensuring transparency and rigour sit alongside broader industry engagement.
With the Culture and Values Awards, Mumbrella’s long-standing categories continue to recognise bravery, collaboration, culture and innovation across the industry.
Entries for the Mumbrella Awards 2026 open today. As always, the Awards are designed to recognise work that stands up to scrutiny, delivers meaningful impact, and reflects where the industry is heading, not just where it has been.
