Last month, the AICP released Shortlists for the 2026 suite of competitions: The AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the Commercial, the AICP Next Awards and the AICP Post Awards. To review the full Shortlist for each competition, click here.
The Shortlists are the results of a bifurcated judging system that began earlier this year with over 1200 judges organized into a series of panels of experts in various fields from around the globe. All judges were nominated by their peers and judged the work across their respective categories related to their expertise. Curatorial Committees for all three shows serve as the final arbiters of the awards, confirming eligibility and appropriateness to category, as well as selecting the Best of Show for each competition. For the AICP Show, the Advertising Excellence and Advertising Excellence/Campaign winners are Best of Show; for the AICP Next Awards, it is the Most Next honor; and Best of Show for the AICP Post Awards.
Heading up these curatorial sessions and selecting the make-up were Michelle Ross, Founder/Managing Director of Superprime and Chairperson of the AICP Show; Jimmy Smith, Chairman/CEO/Chief Creative Officer of Amusement Park Entertainment and Judging Chair for the AICP Next Awards; and Gloria Pitagorsky, Managing Partner at Heard City and Chairperson of the AICP Post Awards.
Honorees for all three competitions will be celebrated during AICP Week, which kicks off on Tuesday, June 2, 2026 in New York, and culminates in a presentation and gala at The Museum of Modern Art on Thursday, June 4, 2026. View more information about AICP Week, including the full schedule and registration options, by clicking here.
The AICP Show Shortlist
Leading the list of production companies on the 2026 AICP Show Shortlist was MJZ, with a total of 47 mentions across the Show’s twenty-two categories, which includes five in co-production with Passion Pictures and one co-production with Business Club. SMUGGLER came in second in the production company Shortlist count, with 18 entries, followed by Biscuit Filmworks with 13, which includes three mentions for a co-production with Revolver. Rounding out the top five production companies was Somesuch with 12 followed by SUPERPRIME with 10 entries on the Shortlist.
The top agency on the AICP Show Shortlist this year was Mother, which scored 13 entries representing work from various offices around its global network. Following closely with 12 shortlisted entries were both Droga5 and Wieden+Kennedy. Droga5 is part of Accenture Song, and Wieden+Kennedy’s 12 mentions spanned its global network. The agency Isle of Any earned 11 shortlisted mentions. Squarespace’s in-house marketing team and various global offices of FCB round out the top agencies with nine mentions each.
The list of brand achievements was topped by Apple with 17 Shortlisted entries. Coinbase, Squarespace and Uber received nine Shortlisted entries each. Rounding out the top five brands in the AICP Show Shortlist is Xbox, which received eight mentions.
The AICP Next Awards Shortlist
The AICP Next Awards recognize outstanding work for specific engagement outlets and the creative forces behind it but are much more than an Awards competition – Next honors brands that exemplify thought leadership and groundbreaking connections that points the way forward for brands and their creative partners.
Leading its roster of Shortlisted brands was Apple, which scored 13 spots on the Shortlist, followed by Amazon, which scored six. Next up with four shortlisted entries each were Frontier Airlines and Salesforce. Closing out the top brands were Google, Meta, Molson Coors, and The First Amendment Troop, all of whom received three mentions on the shortlist.
R/GA led all agencies on the Next Awards Shortlist, earning 12 entries. Following closely behind was TBWA\Media Arts Lab with 11 shortlist mentions. The in-house marketing teams at Amazon received six shortlist mentions, four for Amazon XCM and two for Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab. Rounding out the list of top agencies in the Next Awards were BarkleyOKRP, CALLEN, Highdive, and Salesforce; all of whom had four entries on the shortlist.
Topping the list of production/development companies in this year’s Next Awards shortlist was m ss ng p eces with eight entries. The following companies had four shortlist mentions each: hungryman, SMUGGLER, Somesuch, and Tool. Additionally, Caviar earned four shortlisted mentions for their co-production with Salesforce on MrBeast’s Million Dollar Puzzle.
The AICP Post Awards Shortlist
The AICP Post Awards are unique among the AICP Awards in that they’re presented to individual post production artists, and not companies. Topping the list with eight Shortlisted entries was Sound Designer and Audio Mixer Sam Ashwell of 750mph. Jake Ashwell, also of 750mph was co-credited on four those shortlisted entries.
A trio of editors each earned four Shortlisted entries. The were Biff Butler of papercut; Raj Ramnauth of Nimiopere Film Editorial; and Tom Lindsay of Trim Editing.
In terms of aggregate Shortlist honors per post production company, artists associated with three companies collectively earned 11 Shortlist mentions. The companies with 11 mentions are Arcade Edit, Electric Theatre Collective and Untold Studios. Various artists at Nimiopere Film Editorial combined for 10 shortlist entries, while artist from Royal Muster earned nine mentions.
The list of agencies whose work was recognized in the AICP Post Awards was led by Wieden+Kennedy, which earned a total of 18 Shortlist mentions, followed by Droga5, part of Accenture Song, which earned seven. Various offices of McCann combined for six Shortlisted entries. Mother earned six shortlisted mentions for work out of its London and other global offices. Rounding out the roster of top-ranked agencies, also with six mentions, was Isle of Any.
The list of brands whose work was recognized with Shortlist achievement was led by Apple, with 12 mentions total, followed by Nike, with nine entries, and Netflix with seven. Rounding out the top brands, with four mentions each, were Coinbase and Google.
The Curatorial Meetings
The Curatorial committees for The AICP Show, The AICP Post Awards and The AICP Next Awards met April 23rd - April 25th in New York to determine the final disposition for each competition.
In attendance for the AICP Show were Michelle Ross, SUPERPRIME; Luke Colson, Untold Studios; Melissa Culligan, Epoch Films; Jérôme Denis, LA PAC; Geoff Edwards, GALE; Matt Factor, SKUNK; Wendell Hanes, Volition Sound; Marie Hyon, PSYOP; Diane Jackson-Toth, X-15; Zoe Kessler; Brendan Malloy, SUPERPRIME; Lisa Mehling, Chelsea; Vic Palumbo, Salesforce; Alberto Ponte, Someplace; Jaime Robinson; Lora Schulson, 72andSunny; Rebecca Skinner, SUPERPRIME; Kerli Teo, Wieden+Kennedy; Morgan Visconti, human; Mal Ward, Arts & Sciences; Colleen Wellman, Apple; and Lawrence Young, Cosmo Street Editorial.
In attendance for the Next Awards were Jury Presidents and Curators at Large. The list included Jimmy Smith, AICP Next Awards Judging Chair, Amusement Park Entertainment; Bonin Bough, Portrait Media Group; Laurel Burton, Instrument; Javier Castillo, Fox; Vince Cook, AdLegends.ai; Kerstin Emhoff, PRETTYBIRD/Ventureland; Jae Goodman, Superconnector Studios; Rei Inamoto, I&Co; Jayanta Jenkins; Judy John, Edelman; Jeff Kling, Das Favorite; Nick Law, Accenture Song; Allen Mask, WestCap/CōLab; Kaleeta McDade, VML; Evelyn Neill, Apple; Nekeda Newell-Hall, Shoes That Fit; Reggieknow, Fashion Figure Inc; Tiffany Rolfe, R/GA; David “Shingy” Shing; Sequel Smith, VaynerMedia; and Lewis Williams, Williams Creative Group Chicago.
In attendance for the AICP Post Awards, in addition to Gloria Pitagorsky of Heard City, were Ayumi Ashley, Rare Medium; Sam Ballardini, PSYOP; Yvette Cobarrubias, Cosmo Street Editorial; Magdalena Hernández, Cutters; Celeste Holt-Walters, Futura Collective; JJ Lask, PS 260; Philip Loeb, Heard City; Ali Mao, Arcade Edit; Christopher McLallen, M+C Saatchi; Mollie Mills, Somesuch; Emily Moore, Google Creative Lab; Matt Nelson, Storefront Music; Stacy Peterson, Cut+Run; James Razzall, Framestore; Steven Rodriguez, Apache Digital; Steve Rosen, Sonic Union; and Holle Singer, Consulate.
Established in 1992, The AICP Show is the most important advertising showcase in the U.S. dedicated to excellence in craft. The AICP Post Awards, which debuted in 2001, honors excellence in a wide range of post production crafts and disciplines. And the AICP Next Awards, launched in 2007, highlights the winners of the 13 Next categories, which honor innovative marketing communications. Each show in the AICP Awards Suite is housed in The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film’s state of the art archives for future generations to study and are available for use or exhibition by the museum’s curators. All individual works, and each year’s shows in their entirety, can be viewed exclusively at www.aicpawards.com, the AICP Awards Archive website.