2026 AGENCY OF THE YEAR CATEGORIES

This award recognizes the best agency specializing in providing experiential marketing solutions. This is open to all agencies part of a network or independent.

This category recognizes the most creative advertising agencies. Judges will be looking to award an agency that consistently creates work to the highest level and the scoring will be weighted towards the work more than in other categories. Samples of creative work are required as support material. Videos embedded in the pdf are accepted or videos can be uploaded in the online portal as supplemental documents.

This award recognises the best agencies specialising in creating, launching and repositioning brands. The judges will consider how the agency has planned, executed and evaluated branding projects for its clients. This is open to all agencies part of a network or independent.

Open to independent media or PR agencies and agencies that are not majority owned by a holding company or network (less than 49%). Agencies not eligible are those who are either majority, fully backed by or sharing resources with a holding company, or using a holding agency brand name. Scoring in the independent categories places greater weight on demonstrable business success, including financial performance, growth, and commercial impact, in addition to creativity and culture.

This award recognises the best agencies specialising in influencers and creators.

This award recognizes the very best agencies specialising in media including but not limited to planning and buying. This is open to all agencies part of a network or independent.

This category is for any specialist agency, or specialized team within a larger agency, that focuses entirely on helping brands reach and connect with new Canadians and those with a strong ethnic connection and identity.

This category recognizes the achievements, performance and excellent work of PR consultancies in Canada. This is open to all agencies part of a network or independent.

Any agency based in Canada with 20 or less full-time staff. These small agencies are not only undersized threats to the larger players in their category, but in many ways set standards in terms of work quality and craftsmanship, operations/culture.

This award recognizes the best agencies specializing in delivering social media solutions for brands. The judges will be looking for innovative use of social platforms and effective engagement strategies in the social space.

This award recognizes professionals responsible for account management who have displayed
the most innovation, skills and enthusiasm in bringing the benefits of advertising to their clients’ businesses resulting in the development of solid business relationships. Judges will consider contribution to the agency and clients, client relationship management, client retention as well as new business wins, positive organic growth for clients.

This award recognizes agency producers who have displayed the most innovation, skills
and enthusiasm when executing agencies’ campaign ideas. Judges will consider the agency producer/ producers’ contribution to the agency and their clients, how they made difficult executions happen, contributed to the most creative campaigns and facilitated long-lasting relationships with clients in the process. This can be an individual or a team.

The award recognizes creative directors working (largely) from Canada who have overseen the best work during the review period. The winner will have not only set the standard for creative excellence but have also raised the bar for innovation and disruptive big ideas.

Judges will consider recognition received at the major recognized award shows and – if they are in a senior leadership role – the individual’s contribution to staff development initiatives, particularly their involvement in nurturing young talent, and how their work has contributed to the role or image of advertising in the region – though the quality of the work will take precedence.  

Samples of the nominee’s work will be required as support materials.

This award recognizes the Canadian team behind the best work during the review period. The winning team will have not only set the standard for creative excellence but have also raised the bar for innovation and disruptive big ideas. Ideally, the team will have created campaigns for more than one brand.

Judges will consider recognition received at the leading award shows. The team’s commitment to diversity or social initiatives can also be included in entries but the final decision will rest on the quality of the work.

Samples of the team’s work will be required as support materials.

This award is for the media planning and media strategy leaders who have made the biggest impact on their clients’ marketing and business results through the creative use of media during the review period. This person will be responsible for spearheading the agency’s planning and strategy efforts more broadly, even if they do not formally run a separate department.

Judges will consider the individual’s contribution to agency and client, as well as their strategic skills, deployment of research, examples of approaches to problem solving and ability to intelligently recommend, explore and evaluate new and diverse platform options. Entrants should provide as much evidence of the results of their work as possible.

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

Judges will consider solid examples of leadership in new business development initiatives that contributed to the success and financial growth of the agency.

This can be an individual or a team.

This award will celebrate the planner/strategist who has helped to deliver the best results for their clients through insightful, original and evidence-based thinking. Judges will be looking for clear evidence of how the winning planner/strategist’s work contributed to the executed campaign, and how the activity delivered for the brand. The winner of this award might focus on one brand, or work across a number of brands, but will work the majority of their time on client business, rather than departmental management.