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Ad Tech

Instagram Returns With Second Edition Of Rings Awards For Creators

Ad Tribe! Bureau2 min read
A halftone paper cutout of an upright ring and a blank smartphone, for the second edition of the Instagram Rings Awards

Instagram has brought back its Rings Awards for a second edition, recognising creators for creativity, craft and cultural impact.

  • Platform: Instagram
  • Award: Rings, introduced last year
  • Judges: a panel of fourteen, nominating and voting
  • Trophy: designed by Emily Adams Bode Aujla

What The Rings Awards Measure

Process, not format. Instagram states the award recognises creators whose work sparks conversations and influences culture on and off the platform, and that it focuses on exploring ideas, overcoming self-doubt and experimenting with forms of expression rather than on a particular kind of content.

That is a deliberate refusal to reward the thing a platform usually rewards, which is output that performs inside its own ranking.

Who Decides

A panel assembled from outside the creator economy as much as inside it, including Donatella Versace, A$AP Rocky, FINNEAS, Chloe Zhao, Mikaela Shiffrin, OSGEMEOS, Charm La'Donna, Will Welch, Isamaya Ffrench, Vikas Khanna and Jack Edwards, alongside Instagram's Adam Mosseri and Eva Chen.

Each judge nominates creators and votes to determine the recipients, which puts the selection in the hands of practitioners from fashion, music, film, sport and food rather than in an algorithm.

Why A Platform Gives Out A Physical Object

Because it is the one thing a feed cannot deliver. Fashion designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla designed the ring itself, with the 2026 edition carrying a four-leaf clover carved from Connemara marble, chosen to reflect taking creative risks and making opportunities through exploration.

For a platform competing for the people who make its content, an award is retention spending as much as recognition. The Rings Awards also give Instagram a claim on cultural seriousness that a ranking position cannot buy, which is why the panel reaches well outside the platform's own economy.

Instagram is expected to announce the full list of 2026 winners later this month.

More ad tech coverage on Ad Tribe.

#instagram#meta#creator economy#social media#awards
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