Instagram announced on Monday that it’s launching an awards program, with 25 creators set to receive a gold ring next week. The company says the new awards program will recognize creators around the world who shift culture and break barriers.
The judges panel for the new awards program includes Instagram head Adam Mosseri, director Spike Lee, designer Marc Jacobs, YouTuber Marques Brownlee, actress Yara Shadhi, makeup artist Pat McGrath, and more.
Winners will receive a physical custom ring designed by English fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, along with a digital golden ring around their Instagram profile. They’ll also be able to design a custom “Like” button that appears when liking feed posts. Notably, winners won’t be receiving any sort of monetary prize.
The move comes as Meta has been scaling back its creator payout programs over the past few years. Earlier this year, Meta shut down a program that paid creators for ads placed in their profiles. In 2023, the company stopped offering bonuses to Reels creators on Instagram and Facebook. The company also shut down its affiliate marketing bonuses in 2022.
The launch of the new awards program also comes as creators saw a 52% decrease in brand deals in 2024, according to a survey from Kajabi. Additionally, Bank of America said last year that along with a slowdown in sponsored partnerships, there’s competition in the space, as more paid partnerships are concentrated among the top creators.
Given these recent shifts, it’s interesting to see Instagram launch a symbolic awards program that doesn’t offer any monetary compensation to recipients. Instead, it’s focused on creating an awards program that’s supposed to be like the Oscars for content creators (without an actual ceremony).
The company said in a blog post that the award is “all about celebrating those who aren’t afraid to take creative chances and do it their way. Those who bring people together over their creativity, and deserve recognition.”
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Winners will be announced on October 16.