An award is only worth the reasons behind it.
So in the International AI Creator Award 2026, every vote by a final judge comes with a written critique, published with the judge's name. Not a ranking handed down from nowhere — a reason you can read, sitting next to the work.
Round 2 closes on 15 October
Entries close on 15 October, Anywhere on Earth — 21:00 JST on 16 October. From 16 to 26 October comes Round 3: screening, recommended works from partner organisations, and the publication of the works that go to the public vote.
170 works from 99 creators across 12 countries and regions have come in so far.
The gallery is already open
Every entered work is public at the gallery, in seven languages, filterable by field and by country. You can already react with an emoji and leave a comment on any of them.
https://aicu.ai/award/2026/gallery/
One thing worth being precise about: a reaction is not a vote. Pressing a heart puts that work into your ballot for its field, but nothing is final until the public vote, which runs from 26 October to 15 November. One vote per field, up to ten. You do not have to fill all ten — whatever is in your ballot when it closes is what counts.
The nine final judges
Published with their names and faces, which is a condition of the role.
- Anna Skrypka
- Jerry Chi
- Matty Shimura — Head of Chroma Awards, ElevenLabs
- Yohei Sadoshima — CEO, Cork
- Scott Broock — Founder, Totem Networks
- Simon Richir — Professeur, Arts et Métiers, Laval
- Yoshikazu Takano — Producer, GROUNDRIDDIM
- Youichiro Miyake — Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts
- Akihiko Shirai — AICU Inc. / Chair of AICU Award
We are still inviting, so this list will grow. The current line-up is always here.
https://aicu.ai/award/2026/jury/
The final judging runs from 15 November, after the public vote closes, through to the ceremony. Each judge picks one work per field and writes why. All of it is published.
The organisations standing with us
- Supported by — Digital Content Association of Japan (DCAJ), Digital Hollywood University
- In cooperation with — AI Film Festival Japan 2026
- Technology partners — OpenAI, ElevenLabs Grants
- Media partner — Windows Forest
- Bronze Partners — TapNow, AI動画最前線 (AI Video Frontline)
- Reciprocal Partner — Laval Virtual / Recto VRso
https://aicu.ai/award/2026/partners/
What an entry gets, win or not
A public record page in seven languages that you can point anyone to. It stays whatever the result.
Your own vote. Creators who entered can vote too, from 26 October to 15 November. We have not separated the people who make from the people who watch.
A link you can hand to the people who back you. Paste the work's page into a post and it renders as a card. From the moment you enter, you have somewhere to say "please vote for this".
The stage. The ceremony is on Friday 20 November, 15:50–16:50, Hall 4 at Makuhari Messe, on the INTER BEE IGNITION x DCEXPO stage (IG-204). An online broadcast is planned, and a reception follows nearby from 19:00 to 21:00.
https://j.aicu.ai/A26YT
How to enter
Work published between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2026, reachable at a public URL that opens without a login. The entry fee is USD 10 per work — it pays for a person to open your URL, check it, translate it, and run the review. A human looks.
Previous entries and prizes elsewhere do not disqualify anything. Work already published somewhere is welcome.
https://aicu.ai/award/2026/
The official site is in seven languages. Questions are welcome at award@aicu.ai.