Artificial Intelligence and Marketing Awards: Where to Enter Your GenAI Projects

La guida completa per Agenzie e Brand su dove presentare i prossimi progetti di Intelligenza Artificiale, nel quarto numero della rubrica Gold Brief.

Claiming to use artificial intelligence has become the most effective way not to win an AI category.

The reason is simple. Claiming it costs nothing. Everyone does it. Over the last two editions of the leading international marketing and communications awards, the share of entries mentioning AI in their text has grown exponentially. Juries have responded with a more precise selection criterion. The question judges ask today is therefore no longer just ‘Did you use AI?’, but ‘How do you prove it?’

With the recent evolution of digital technologies, AI has become a baseline condition. Competitive advantage in the AI categories of international awards has therefore shifted from declaration to documentation. Those who bring verifiable workflows, proprietary systems and measurable results win. Those who bring a claim go home empty-handed.

This fourth article in the Gold Brief series analyses the AI categories of the leading marketing and communications awards in 2026, covering the judging criteria, the type of evidence required and the logic for building a solid entry in this territory.

Gold Brief is the Bliss blog category for those who want to understand how recognition in marketing really works. In this column you will find practical guides to the international awards that matter (creativity, strategy, performance, design, SEO, innovation and much more) with everything you need to enter. Because the perfect brief is not written in a day: rather, it is built every day.

From Claim to Structure: The Phase Shift Juries Have Already Made

Until 2023, entering a project with an AI component was enough to stand out. The landscape was new, juries were attentive to novelty, and the mere presence of artificial intelligence in the process generated interest.

That moment is over.

The judging criteria for AI categories at the most authoritative awards have evolved in a precise way. Judges look for structural integration. The distinction is operational and has direct consequences for how an entry is built.

Decorative AI appears in a project as a support tool: it speeds up an existing process or generates assets from a human brief. The result is the same one that would have been achieved without AI, only faster. That is no longer enough in the dedicated categories.

Structural AI is different. It redefines the process and produces results that would not have been possible without it, or produces them at a scale that was previously out of reach. Two examples: an automation system that optimises thousands of pages simultaneously, or a model trained on client-specific data that generates outputs generic tools cannot replicate.

The question that separates the two categories is therefore a single one: what would have been impossible without AI?

If the answer is “nothing”, the entry does not stand up.

AI Categories in the Leading Awards of 2026

Ad Age Creativity Awards: Best Use of AI

The Best Use of AI category at the Ad Age Creativity Awards rewards campaigns, projects or initiatives that integrate artificial intelligence in a concrete and relevant way into marketing, creative or communications processes. The critical point in the judging criteria is explicit: the mere use of AI tools is not rewarded; what is rewarded is the ability to integrate the technology into the creative or strategic process and generate distinctive results.

This distinction merits detailed analysis. An agency that used Midjourney to generate the images for a campaign used AI. An agency that built a proprietary visual generation system trained on the brand’s identity, capable of producing consistent assets at scale and measuring their impact in real time, integrated AI.

The Ad Age jury tells the two apart immediately and, naturally, rewards the second.

An entry for this category requires a description of the project and the initial challenge, a detailed explanation of how AI was used with documented workflows and processes, the value generated compared with the traditional approach, creative and business results with concrete KPIs, visual materials or demos, and a case study video. Judges assess the level of real integration, the originality of the approach and the impact generated on the project or the business. All three criteria require evidence.

For the 2026 edition, entries were open to work published or live between 1 December 2024 and 31 December 2025, with a final deadline of 2 December 2025 at $750 per category. For the 2027 edition, Ad Age has historically opened submissions between September and October, with the Final Deadline in December. Official details are published on the official portal when entries open; for further information, see our article on the 2026 calendar.

Cannes Lions: AI as a Cross-Cutting Lever

The Cannes Lions do not have a dedicated AI category by that name, but artificial intelligence cuts horizontally across several Lions with growing weight. The Creativity Strategy Lions reward strategic thinking and methodological frameworks: an AI system that has redefined a brand’s strategy falls within this territory. The Digital Craft Lions reward executional excellence in digital experiences: a generative interactive experience built on advanced language models can be entered here. The Design Lions recognise visual identity as a strategic lever: generative systems applied to brand design have already won in this category.

The Cannes logic differs from that of more operational awards. The jury assesses cultural impact as well as business effectiveness. For Cannes judging purposes, an AI project that has redefined how an industry thinks about its own communications is worth more than an AI project that is technically flawless but lacks cultural relevance. This calls for a different kind of narrative in the entry: not only what the AI produced, but what it changed.

SEO Awards: AI in Search

The European Search Awards have two distinct categories covering AI in search, and the distinction between them matters for anyone building an entry.

Best Use of AI in Search

This category rewards projects and campaigns that use artificial intelligence innovatively within search strategy. The criteria include documented AI workflows, implemented automation, content generation systems, predictive search and technological approaches that improve performance, efficiency or organic results.

The entry requires a description of the project and its objectives, a specific explanation of how AI was used in the search strategy with detailed workflows and automations, the innovation introduced compared with the previous approach, and KPIs and results backed by verifiable performance data. Judges assess the level of innovation, the concrete integration of AI and the improvement in performance. Concrete data is the most heavily weighted criterion.

Innovation in Search: Software and AI-related Categories

This category covers a broader scope and rewards proprietary tools, advanced workflows, automation and AI technologies applied to search marketing. It is the right category for those who have developed in-house systems, proprietary platforms or AI-based methodological frameworks that have generated a measurable competitive advantage.

The distinction from Best Use of AI in Search is operational. The former rewards the application of existing AI to a specific strategy. The latter rewards building something new. Those who have developed a proprietary tool enter here. Those who have applied existing tools intelligently enter the former.

For the 2026 edition, entries for the European Search Awards were open, with an extended deadline of 26 February 2026 at $750 per entry. For the 2027 edition, the European Search Awards have historically opened submissions between November and December, with deadlines spread from January to the end of February. Official fees and dates are published on the official portal when entries open.

Search Engine Land Awards: Best Use of AI Technology in Search Marketing

The Search Engine Land Awards have a dedicated category rewarding projects and campaigns that use artificial intelligence innovatively and concretely in search strategy. The scope includes AI workflows, automations, proprietary systems and AI-assisted SEO approaches that improve performance, efficiency and operational processes.

What sets this category apart from its equivalents at other awards is the weight given to impact on operational processes. The Search Engine Land Awards measure how far AI has changed the way work is done, not just the results it has produced. This requires before-and-after documentation at process level: how an activity was carried out before AI was introduced, how it is carried out now, and what has changed in terms of efficiency, scale and quality.

The entry requires a description of the project and its objectives, an explanation of how AI was used in the search strategy, the workflows and automations implemented with any documentation of proprietary tools, KPIs and results with performance data, and supporting materials such as demos, dashboards or visuals. For AI categories, judges ask entrants to explain specifically how the technology was integrated and what real advantage it delivered. Vague technical descriptions are penalised.

Entries for the 2026 edition are still open. Super Early Bird by 22 May 2026 at $395 per entry. Early Bird by 10 July 2026 at $495. Final Deadline by 4 September 2026 at $595.

What You Need to Enter: The Documentation That Counts

Across all the awards analysed, a common set of requirements emerges that defines a solid AI entry.

The first is the description of the system. Naming ChatGPT, Midjourney or any other commercial tool does not constitute documentation of advanced AI use. Describing how a tool was configured, adapted, integrated with other systems and applied to a specific problem begins to build the evidence. Describing a proprietary system developed in-house completes it.

The second requirement is a documented workflow. Judges look for the operational sequence. How raw data enters the system. How it is processed. What output it generates. How that output is validated and applied. A visualised workflow, even in simple form, is worth more than three paragraphs of written description.

The third requirement is measuring differential impact. What the AI system produced that would not have been produced without it. Scale is a valid parameter: if AI made it possible to run a process across ten thousand pages instead of a hundred, that is a measurable result. Speed is a valid parameter. Output quality measured against specific KPIs is a valid parameter. The mere statement that the project was delivered ‘thanks to AI’ is not.

The fourth requirement, specific to search awards such as the European Search Awards and Search Engine Land Awards, is the robustness of performance data. Organic growth, traffic, rankings, conversions, ROI. Judges at these awards weigh the numbers more heavily than any other part of the entry. An excellent AI system with weak results does not win. A robust AI system with strong numbers builds an entry that is hard to ignore.

AI Is the System

The landscape of AI awards in marketing has taken shape within two years. Juries have developed sophisticated criteria because they have seen thousands of entries claiming to use AI without demonstrating it. That phase produced a clear reaction: today the criteria sharply distinguish those who use AI as a tool from those who govern it as a system.

Governing it as a system means documenting the architecture, building the workflow before building the entry, and gathering impact data while the project is under way (rather than reconstructing it after the fact).

Those who approach an award by presenting this documentation methodically arrive at the deadlines with an entry that juries recognise as serious before they even assess it on its merits.

This is why AI is no longer what makes an entry win. It is what makes it credible.

New Connections (FAQ)

Which awards have specific categories for the use of artificial intelligence in marketing?

The main international awards with dedicated AI categories are the Ad Age Creativity Awards, with Best Use of AI; the European Search Awards, with Best Use of AI in Search and Innovation in Search/AI-related; and the Search Engine Land Awards, with Best Use of AI Technology in Search Marketing. The Cannes Lions have no AI category by that name, but artificial intelligence features as a cross-cutting criterion in the Creative Strategy Lions, the Digital Craft Lions and the Design Lions.

How do I know whether my AI entry is a winner?

The operational distinction is between declaration and documentation. Entries that fail to make the shortlist describe AI as a tool used in the project. Entries that win document the system: precise workflows, technology integrations, proprietary systems developed in-house and, above all, the differential impact measured against verifiable KPIs. The question judges implicitly ask is always the same: what would have been impossible without AI? If the answer does not emerge clearly from the entry, the assessment is negative.

My agency uses AI tools. Can I enter the Best Use of AI categories?

Yes, but the competitive edge in winning entries almost always comes from non-standard use of those tools. Specific configuration, integration with internal systems, training on the client’s proprietary data, building workflows that combine several tools in a logical sequence: these are what turn the use of a commercial tool into something documentable and distinctive. An agency that uses ChatGPT like everyone else does not have an entry. An agency that has built a system around ChatGPT, integrated with the client’s data, and measures results against specific KPIs has a story to tell.