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Categories
Please note that many campaigns fit into multiple categories. When preparing entries, please review all the categories to find the ones that best apply to your campaign. All work submitted is judged based on Creativity, Relevance and Impact (unless otherwise note in the description below) - please read descriptions carefully.
African American
Represents all types of creative engagement that directly targets the African American demographic. The Grand Prize winner will earn a place in the 2026 ANA African American Marketing Leadership Cohort, playing an active role in defining best practices for investing in this dynamic growth segment.
Asian
Represents all types of creative engagement that directly targets the Asian demographic. (Southeast Asian audiences are best entered in the Rising Multicultural Segments category.) The Grand Prize winner will earn a place in the 2026 ANA Asian Marketing Leadership Cohort, playing an active role in defining best practices for investing in this dynamic growth segment.
Branded Entertainment
This category recognizes marketing that engages audiences through entertainment-driven storytelling created by or in partnership with a brand. Entries should demonstrate how brands developed or integrated into original entertainment content—such as film, television, digital series, music, gaming, live experiences, or other narrative formats—to authentically connect with audiences. Please note that this year a dedicated Music and Brands category has been introduced, so entries primarily centered on music collaborations can also be submitted to the Music and Brands category.
Content Marketing
This award honors exceptional brand-developed or integrated content designed to engage, inform, or interact with consumers to drive meaningful action. Unlike the Branded Entertainment category, which relies on external entertainment assets, this category focuses on original or user-generated content that a brand creates or curates. Winning entries will showcase effective storytelling, branded media (online or offline), gaming experiences, interactive content, educational initiatives, or community-driven engagement. Examples may include brand-produced video series, podcasts, immersive experiences, influencer-driven content, and social-first storytelling campaigns.
Cross-Cultural Campaigns
Entries in this category will feature campaigns that include multiple cultural segments. Inclusiveness should be an integral focus throughout the entire strategic and creative process. While casting and representation will be a consideration, this category will also recognize multicultural and inclusive marketing insights throughout the entire execution.
Cultural Moments and Calendarized Events
This category will spotlight how marketers leverage the unique aspects of specific holidays and cultural events to enhance their relevance and support of special milestones in the lives of their diverse consumers. Events include annual festivals and holidays (e.g., Kwanzaa, Lunar New Year, Easter), cultural milestones (e.g., Quinceañera, Valentine’s Day) and special observances (e.g., Juneteenth, National Coming Out Day, Veteran’s Day).
Digital/Mobile/Social
This category recognizes creative executions that leverage digital platforms to directly engage multicultural consumer segments. Eligible entries include programs utilizing mobile sites, apps, geo-location strategies, email campaigns, social media, and other web-based initiatives. This category also honors the most effective use of social media platforms (e.g., TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X, etc.) as the primary communication strategy to achieve campaign objectives.
Experiential/Sponsorship/Event Marketing
This award recognizes outstanding experiential, event marketing, and sponsorship activations that bring brands to life through meaningful, in-person experiences tailored to multicultural and inclusive audiences. Winning entries will demonstrate how brands engage consumers through live events, branded experiences, and strategic sponsorships that foster cultural connections, community engagement, and brand affinity.
Eligible campaigns may include festival sponsorships, branded activations at major cultural moments, touring experiences, on-site integrations, grassroots or community-driven events, sponsorship partnerships, and immersive pop-ups designed to directly engage diverse consumer segments. Successful entries will highlight how the overall experience and/or sponsorship strategy authentically resonated with the target audience and delivered measurable, lasting impact.
Health and Wellness - NEW!
This category recognizes brands, healthcare organizations, and institutions that have demonstrated outstanding multicultural marketing excellence in the health and wellness space. Eligible work spans the full health ecosystem—including pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and health systems, health insurers, wellness brands, and mission-driven organizations—and honors efforts that meaningfully improve understanding, trust, access, or outcomes across diverse communities. Winning entries reflect a deep understanding of how culture shapes health beliefs, behaviors, and decision-making, and demonstrate how culturally informed marketing can reduce barriers, address health inequities, and drive positive impact.
Hispanic
Represents all types of creative engagement that directly targets the Hispanic demographic. The Grand Prize winner will earn a place in the 2026 ANA Hispanic Marketing Leadership Cohort, playing an active role in defining best practices for investing in this dynamic growth segment.
Influencer/Creator Marketing
This category recognizes the most effective use of influencer and creator marketing—campaigns that leverage multicultural and inclusive individuals, groups, or communities to authentically promote a brand or product and build credibility with target consumers as the primary communication strategy.
Eligible entries may include collaborations with creators across all tiers, from micro and local influencers to macro creators, entertainers, and national celebrities. Submissions should demonstrate strategic use of partnerships to drive engagement, cultural relevance, and measurable impact.
In-Language Marketing
This category recognizes marketing campaigns that engage audiences using their native or heritage language domestically (United States or Canada), where it is not the dominant language. Entries should demonstrate how brands connect with multilingual communities through culturally resonant, in-language messaging. Examples include Spanish, Spanglish, or French in the United States and Mandarin or Punjabi in Canada. Successful campaigns will highlight how in-language marketing fosters deeper connections, enhances accessibility, and drives engagement within multicultural consumer segments. For judging purposes only, all entries must include English translations of in-language copy to ensure a fair evaluation process.
LGBTQ+
Represents all types of creative engagement that directly targets the LGBTQ+ demographic.
Local/Regional/Market Specific Marketing
This category recognizes marketing programs and campaigns designed to engage consumers within a specific local, regional, or market-defined geography, with a focus on multicultural and inclusive audiences. Winning entries should demonstrate how brands tailored their approach to reflect the cultural nuances, preferences, and community dynamics of the selected location. Entries should include details on why the specific market was chosen, how insights and local context informed the campaign strategy, and the execution process. Successful campaigns may include hyper-local activations, regional partnerships, community-driven initiatives, or city/state-specific media strategies that authentically connect with multicultural and inclusive audiences. These submissions often showcase how strategic use of smaller budgets can deliver outsized results in the marketplace.
Marketing to the 50+ Consumer
This population is growing in size, spending power and influence and entries in this category give voice to who this consumer is, how they wish to be seen, and ensures accurate representation in all forms of marketing and advertising.
Media Strategy/Planning - NEW!
This category recognizes media agencies that have demonstrated excellence in multicultural media strategy and planning—elevating media from a distribution channel to a driver of cultural relevance and inclusion. Winning entries show how cultural insight informed media decisions, including where, how, and in what context audiences were engaged. This category honors media agencies as strategic partners that shape representation, access, and resonance through intentional planning, innovative media creative, and culturally grounded partnerships.
Music and Brands - NEW!
This category recognizes brands that have demonstrated excellence in leveraging music as a strategic cultural asset, not just a creative element. Eligible work spans the full spectrum of music-brand engagement—including music in advertising, tour and artist partnerships, product integration, and music-related programs—and honors efforts that authentically connect brands to culture through sound. Winning entries show a clear understanding of music’s role as a cultural force, demonstrating how intentional alignment with artists, genres, platforms, or owned music assets deepened relevance, credibility, and emotional connection with multicultural audiences.
People with Disabilities and Neurodivergent Communities
This category recognizes marketing that includes and represents people with disabilities across a broad spectrum, including physical (e.g., mobility impairments, limb differences), sensory (e.g., vision or hearing impairments), cognitive (e.g., intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities), and neurodivergent communities (e.g., autism, ADHD, dyslexia). It also encompasses mental health disabilities (e.g., anxiety, PTSD), chronic illnesses and invisible disabilities (e.g., multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic pain), and communication disabilities (e.g., speech impairments, non-verbal conditions). Entries can be campaigns that specifically target these audiences or integrate them meaningfully within broader efforts. Strong submissions will demonstrate authentic representation, inclusive design, or accessibility considerations that help ensure people with disabilities are seen, heard, and engaged.
Purpose/Socially Responsible Marketing
This award recognizes programs or campaigns that make a positive impact on society through a social cause, environmental or sustainability initiative, or broader socially responsible effort. Eligible entries may include pro bono campaigns, donation-driven programs, purpose-led marketing initiatives, corporate social responsibility efforts, advocacy, and partnerships. Submissions should demonstrate how the campaign authentically brought the brand’s purpose to life while delivering meaningful, measurable impact.
Rising Multicultural Segments
In recognition of the numerous multicultural segments that add texture and richness to the fabric of our diverse country and contribute to brand growth, this category embraces all the segments not covered by the established awards categories and recognizes creative work and programs which primarily target any other multicultural consumer market, including but not limited to Native American and Indigenous, Eastern European, Middle Eastern/North African (MENA), and Southeast Asian consumers.
Sports Marketing
This award recognizes outstanding achievements in leveraging sports as a platform for innovative and impactful brand activation strategies with multicultural and inclusive marketing segments. This category celebrates the intersection of sports and marketing, where creative campaigns, activations, and partnerships come together to enhance brand visibility, engagement, and resonance among target audiences. Whether through sponsorships, fan experiences, social media engagement, or other pioneering methods, this award highlights the efforts that have elevated brands through the dynamic world of sports. Entries are accepted from brands that leverage a sport, league, team or player, or directly from a sport, league, team or athlete themselves.
Specialty Awards
ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence GEM Award - NEW! - NEW!
This award spotlights the industry's change makers and influencers featuring authentic, accurate portrayals of women and girls in their marketing efforts.
The ANA’s SeeHer initiative, whose mission is to drive the accurate portrayal of women and girls in media, advertising, marketing, and entertainment, has created a unique opportunity for the ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards applicants – The ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence GEM® Award. This award will honor best-in-class creative work that exemplifies SeeHer’s mission.
This award spotlights the industry’s changemakers who are advancing authentic, accurate portrayals of women and girls in their marketing efforts. GEM® stands for Gender Equality Measure and is the ANA’s proprietary methodology for evaluating creative against proven drivers of effective representation. Powered by the ANA GEM Tool, the ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence GEM® Award benchmarks submissions to recognize work that not only reflects these principles but delivers measurable impact in the marketplace.
Marketing Team of the Year - NEW!
This category recognizes a marketing team that has demonstrated outstanding impact, collaboration, and performance over the past year. Judges will evaluate how the team works together internally, partners across the broader organization and with agency partners, and delivers measurable business results through its marketing initiatives.
Submissions should highlight the team’s culture of collaboration, notable accomplishments, and the business impact of their work, supported by a strong body of marketing programs executed during the eligibility period.