New York Festivals proudly celebrates the winners of the 2026 Advertising Awards.
Hear directly from members of our Executive Jury as they share their perspectives on the ideas, innovation, craft, and creative courage that defined this year’s winning work. Explore the campaigns that earned Grand Awards, discover the 2026 Best of Show winner, and experience the work that set the standard for excellence through the NY Lens.
View all of this year’s winners here.
View the Industry Awards winners here.
THIS YEAR’S DEFINING WORK
Sheep happens - PENNY - SAINT ELMO'S GERMANY / charles & charlotte - GERMANY
“When 50 Sheep accidentally walked into a PENNY supermarket and created chaos, your first thought might be …Sh*t… What am I going to do with that? Don’t talk about it all or make one post and forget about it?
Instead, we had clients who have had the courage to turn this unexpected incident into the fastest at the same time most extensive activation campaign PENNY has ever launched.”
—Mathias Harbeck, Chief Creative Officer and Partner at Saint Elmo’s Germany
No Project without Drama - HORNBACh - film Craft + Film - heimattbwa - GERMANY
“Winning a double Grand Prix besides 9 Golds is a wonderful thing. Being named Agency of the Year is something else entirely. Because it celebrates the people and all their decisions that made our winning work possible.”
—Guido Heffels, Chief Creative for HORNBACH, Founder at HEIMAT Berlin
Beat Cancer Off - fuck cancer - PURPOSE - VML New York - USA
Get Almost Almost Anything - uber eats - NYFIN FUNNY -special US - USA
RADIO TIME MACHINE - NICHII GAKKAN CO., LTD - FUTURE NOW tbwa hakuhodo - JAPAN
Boysen Color Stories - boysen - SOCIAL MEDIA & INFLUENCER TBWAISMP - PHILIPPINES
Bedtime Donations Children - royal society for blind children - DIGITAL/MOBILE - INNOCEAN berlin - GERMANY
Never become a former new yorker - streeteasy - baked in new york - Mother - usa
McDelivery® Speed Camera Ads - OUTDOOR - Scholz & Friends Berlin - GERMANY
The Kitkat Heist - KitKat - PUBLIC RELATIONS - Burson & VML London - UNITED KINGDOM
2026 industry awards
supported by
Presenting the LTX competition winner
2026 LTX Competition – Grabarz & Partner – Almost Human (German Depression Foundation)
Now in its second year, the NYF and LTX Studio partnership challenges creative teams to explore the future of AI-driven storytelling by producing a :30 film for a nonprofit organization using LTX Studio, a co-pilot platform for agencies, filmmakers, and marketers. The tool enables users to develop characters, design scenes, map story arcs, and build immersive visual worlds within a single integrated environment.
All entries were reviewed live by the NYF 2026 Executive Jury, led by Andrea Diquez, Global CEO of GUT. Grabarz & Partner’s winning entry was recognized by the jury for its innovation in storytelling and creative execution. Grabarz & Partner has earned top honors in the LTX Competition, receiving a New York Festivals Gold Tower along with 60 million LTX credits.
"We are really happy by this recognition; especially because it allows us to continue supporting the German Depression Foundation with the help of the awesome LTX AI capabilities and the prestigious New York Festivals. And thus to keep raising awareness about this complex and insidious illness.” —Ralf Heuel, CCO/Partner/Co-Founder, Grabarz & Partner.
NYF 2026 CRISTAL VILLAGE AWARD
“The Cristal Village Award aims to recognize work which challenges norms, shifts thinkng and changes behavior. Our estemmed judges were unanimous that 18 months reimagines the idea of family and is a story of humanity and people bonding for life. A true story speaking to a real need in society"
Justin Thomas-Copeland
President of the Jury, Cristal Village Award
Chair, African Cristal Festival
New York Festivals, in partnership with the African Cristal Festival, is proud to present the NYF Cristal Village Award.
This award celebrates creative brand and experience work that educates for good, recognizing campaigns and initiatives across any channel - with broad appeal, purpose, and driving cultural synergy and understanding.
To qualify for this award, work must embody a strong sense of purpose, inspire new thinking, or deeper understanding, change attitudes and behaviors - for social good. The award focuses on entries that bridge cultures and deliver messages with wide-reaching, positive impact.
Examples of eligible work include, but are not limited to, campaigns delivering: human & community-driven brand activation, new product and service launches and activation - with a strong social focus, climate and sustainability change, mental, physical health & wellness impact, disease awareness, animal welfare, and human rights.
Entry fees for submissions in this category will go towards sponsoring Pan-African young creatives to attend the African Cristal Festival, planned to take place in Casablanca, Morocco in September 2026. Both NYF and The African Cristal Festival hope that such an experience for young talent will change and inspire lives.
Thank you to the incredible teams and companies who partnered with Grey to produce our Bobby Lobby call-for-entries campaign.
FUGAiZI
In 2025 to celebrate the upcoming 2026 season, we partnered with NYC based CAPE. and LTX Studio to create FugAIzi as a Save The Date.
