International AI Creator Award 2026 opens its second call for entries

A global award recognising outstanding work created with generative AI, across ten creative fields and seven languages. Winners are announced at Inter BEE 2026, Makuhari Messe, in November.

For immediate release · 2026-09-25　 AICU Inc. ／ AICU JapanK.K.

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AICU Inc. and AICU Japan K.K., under the patronage of the Digital Content Association of Japan (DCAJ), are holding the International AI Creator Award 2026 — an international open call in ten fields and seven languages that finds and honours the people who create with generative AI, whoever they work for.

The size of the company behind a work, and who paid for it, do not count towards the result. The work is judged by the people who engage with it.

Supported by and partners

First-round entries so far

Entries received	28 works from 24 people (14 with the review fee paid, 13 through invitations, 1 awaiting payment)
Countries and regions	5
Fields entered	9 of 10
From Generative AI Expo Vol.6	13 works entered with the venue code
Invited entries	10 works by 7 past contest winners, now being selected

Counted at 2026-09-25 19:41 JST. Counted from the moment a draft is submitted, whether or not the fee has settled. The office's own test entries are not counted.

Thank you to everyone who entered in the first round, in so short a time. We introduce them as the First Penguins — the ones who go in first, while the conventions around work made with AI are still forming. https://aicu.ai/award/2026/first-penguins/

Three ways to take part

Three things are open right now.

1. Entries	Open now. The first round closed on 24 September 2026; those works are in certification review. Entries continue until 15 October 2026 (AoE). USD 10 per work. Enter
2. Partners	Bronze, Silver and Gold. Applications close on 5 October 2026. Public institutions and supporting companies are free in exchange for a logo placement, if committed by that date. See the plans
3. Award Supporter	USD 10. Your name appears in the credits, and you hold a vote in the final round — cast with your comment and critique attached. Become a supporter · Those who already have

What is different here

1. Entering takes one URL

Paste the URL of your work — YouTube, X, or an AICU work certificate — and the entry form drafts itself. In a measured run, 12 of the 18 required questions were filled automatically: the field, title, summary, public date, representative, contact and both key images. What is left for a person is what only a person can answer, including the consents, which are never ticked automatically.

2. A record creators can carry with them

Work that passes receives a work certificate at cert.aicu.ai. When, by whom and what was published stays in a form anyone can check afterwards. The certificate belongs to the author, not to an employer or a school, and survives a change of job or of company.

3. Two rounds, and the reasons are published

The public vote is free and open to anyone, from 26 October to 15 November 2026. Each person holds one pick in every one of the ten fields — ten in all. That round does not choose the winners: it chooses the three to ten finalists per field who go on stage. The final round is held live during the ceremony, 18 to 20 November, and is cast by Award Supporters. A vote there carries a comment and a written critique, and the critiques are published with the result. First-round counts do not carry over.

The ten fields

Service
Commercial Film
Independent Film
Character, Manga & Webtoon
Music, MV & Dance
Advertising, PV & Broadcast
Publishing
Game, Tool & App
Event / XR
Open

Outline

Name	International AI Creator Award 2026
Who can enter	Anyone who creates with generative AI — individuals, teams inside companies, university labs, startups. Self-nomination and nomination by others are both open.
Eligible work	Work with a public date between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2026, reachable by a third party without a login (X, YouTube, the web, and so on).
Fields	Ten. One work is judged in every field it belongs to — no re-entry.
Languages	Seven: Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese.
Review fee	USD 10 per work, paid at submission. The public vote is free for everyone.
Partners	Supported by: Digital Content Association of Japan (DCAJ) · Technology partner: OpenAI · Technology partner: ElevenLabs Grants · In cooperation with: AI Film Festival Japan 2026 · Media partner: Windows Forest · Supported by: Digital Hollywood University
Ceremony	20 November 2026, during INTER BEE IGNITION × DCEXPO at Makuhari Messe.

Schedule

2026-09-11	Entries open
2026-09-24	First round of entries closes
2026-09-25	Press release on the first-round works
2026-10-15	Final close for entries
2026-10-05	Partner applications close
2026-10-16–2026-10-26	Preliminary review and nominee announcements
2026-10-26	Public vote opens
2026-11-15	Public vote closes
2026-11-18–2026-11-20	Ceremony and reception

From the Generative AI Expo, 23 September

At the Generative AI Expo Vol.6 (Hamamatsucho, Tokyo), visitors could enter on the spot with the URL of their work, using a venue code that waived the review fee. 7 works were entered on the day itself. The code kept working after the doors closed, and 13 works in all had come in with it by the close of the first round.

Comment

Generative AI has made creation open to everyone. What is still missing is an international place where genuinely good work is recognised on its merits and carries the maker to the next step. This award is not a one-off prize race, a tool promotion, or a corporate ranking. It is where companies, individuals and the people who love creative AI meet, sharpen each other, and where a creator can prove what they can do and find peers around the world.

Akihiko Shirai, Ph.D. — CEO, AICU Inc. / Representative Director, AICU Japan K.K.

Partners

We are looking for partners who want to back the next generation of creators. Bronze partners and above can recommend work directly. Details and the current openings: https://aicu.ai/award/2026/partner/

Press kit

Free to use in reporting on, or introducing, the International AI Creator Award 2026. No permission needed, no notice needed.
Please use the images as they are. Cropping that removes the award name, recolouring, and burning text into the image change what the image says.
The logo goes on white. Do not grey it out, dim it, or place the symbol smaller than 32px — the orbit lines break up and stop being a picture.
Character artwork carries a credit (listed per image below). Please keep it with the image.
Anything not covered here: award@aicu.ai

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