The IIMC Alumni Association (IIMCAA) is pleased to announce the entries for the 10th Annual IIMCAA Awards 2026 OPEN FOR SUBMISSION. All working professionals, IIMC alumni as well as non-IIMCians, in the field of media and communications are eligible to apply.
Eligibility
The IIMCAA Awards will honour the best professional work done by an applicant/applicants from 1 January- 31 December 2025. Out of the 13 categories, 10 offer a cash prize along with a trophy and certificate, while the remaining 3 offer a trophy and certificate.
The shortlisting of entries and selection of winners will be conducted by an esteemed panel of jury members.
The winners will be announced on 28 February at Connections Meet in Delhi. IIMCAA will contact the winners and share the invite to attend the award ceremony.
Guidelines – Read Carefully
- No entry fee is charged to submit your applications.
- Submission deadline: 4 January 2026. The deadline will not be extended.
- Entry Submission Format: Entries must be submitted in PDF, JPEG, URL, or PPT format, with a total file size of maximum under 10 MB.
Files submitted for an entry crossing this size limit will fail to reach us. IIMCAA will not be liable for submission failures for any reason. - Essay Requirement for Journalism Entries: All applicants in the Journalism categories must include a
2-minute video essay in English/Hindi summarizing and justifying their entry to claim the award and specifying their contribution in the work. - Essay Requirement for Advertising, PR Entries: All applicants in the AD and PR categories must include a
2-minute brief video essay in English/Hindi summarizing and justifying their entry to claim the award and specifying their role and contribution in the work. - Recommendation Letters: Any entry/entries without byline or credit MUST carry a recommendation letter from the Editor/Reporting Manager.
This is a MUST for all these categories – Producer of the Year, PR Person of the Year, AD Person of the Year.
Guidelines for recording and sharing the video essay:
- Must be under 2 minutes
- Must be in English/Hindi ONLY
- Must be recorded in landscape mode ONLY
- Good lighting, natural or artificial, is MUST
- Use headphones/earplugs, if necessary, to avoid background noise
- Ensure the shared link is freely accessible to IIMCAA and jury members
Checklist – Read Carefully
Entry – An applicant can apply for only one category in 2026
Entry – An applicant/applicants need to submit THREE News/ Campaigns done in 2025
Video Essay – Compulsory for everyone
Translation – Compulsory if entry is in a language other than Hindi or English
Undertaking – Compulsory for everyone
Recommendation Letter – Compulsory if entry is lacking byline/credits
Rules and Criteria – Read Carefully
- Applicants must be Indian nationals, irrespective of their current location.
- Applicants must be eligible for applying to IIMCAA Awards 2026. The disqualification rules of award winners of previous years are as follows:
- The winner of a cash/main award shall automatically cease to be eligible for the next two seasons of IIMCAA Awards (IIMCAA Awards 2024 and 2025 Winners shall not apply for 2026).
- Three-time cash/main award winners shall cease to be eligible for the next three seasons of IIMCAA Awards (A winner who has won cash/main awards three times earlier, shall not apply for next three years from the year he/she won third cash/main award).
- Jury Special Award winners are eligible to apply.
- Only ONE entry per applicant per year is allowed and each entry shall include three works of the applicant/applicants done in 2025.
- Applicants must download, sign and submit the undertaking in the given format that is attached on entry submission page.
- Entries must cover outstanding work/designated series by media house/campaign done between 1 January–31 December, 2025.
- For Agency of the Year categories, entries must cover last year’s work profile, campaigns and achievements of the applicant company.
- Work in all Indian languages will be considered without favour or prejudice, but the applicant should provide a suitable translation in English or Hindi to enable the judging process.
- IIMCAA Central Committee members, office bearers and their organization, who are part of the organizing committee of Connections as well as IIMCAA Awards are not eligible for the awards.
- Publishing categories encompass textual works published in newspapers, magazines, and news portals.
- Broadcasting categories encompass audio/video works produced for TV, radio, and other digital platforms.
- If the same work is entered from the clients and the agency’s side by different entrants then the entry received first will be considered.
- The names of the organization of the winners, their designations, or their freelance status will be acknowledged on certificates and trophies for the IIMCAA Awards 2026.
- All entries will be screened for eligibility by an independent committee, comprising of eminent media professionals, before they are sent for a final jury review.
- Should the jury find no suitable entry in any category, the award for that category may be omitted for the current year.
- The jury’s decision is final and cannot be contested. An undertaking to this effect is mandatory to submit. Format is attached.
- The IIMCAA reserves the right to modify any rule or criteria at any stage if deemed necessary in the best interest of the awards.
Code of Conduct
IIMCAA expects that an applicant for its awards will not be in breach of the principles of reasonable conduct* with regard to acts in the public (or interpersonal) sphere:
*Reasonable conduct shall include the following:
- Not be committing or encouraging any violation of the basic laws that govern public and private good
- Not be encouraging physical harm to individuals or groups or causing any other form of threat to public safety
- Not be committing or encouraging acts of offence, insult or verbal violence in any form on any person or group based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, bodily or other intrinsic attributes, and ailments
- Be refraining from weaponizing sexually explicit language and excessive profanity for the purposes of causing offence to individuals or groups
- Not be engaging in behaviour that amounts to online harassment of any individual or group, including peers, through persistent verbal (or visual) targeting committed with the intention of causing insult, offence or harm
- The phrase ‘individual’, ‘person’ or ‘group’ shall be taken to include the IIMCAA community as a whole or its members
IIMCAA shall reserve the right to disqualify an applicant if he or she is found to be in blatant breach of the stated principles or anything analogous to those. Such disqualification will be done in a transparent manner, through internal discussions or, if need be, a vote and the grounds for proceeding thus shall be made available to an independent ombudsman, if so required or demanded.
Categories and Prizes
- Journalist of the Year
Prize Money: INR 1,50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding journalistic work across any publishing, broadcast, or digital platform in English, Hindi, or any Indian language. - Agriculture Reporter of the Year
Prize Money: INR 1,00,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding journalistic contributions covering agricultural issues across any publishing, broadcast, or digital platform in English, Hindi, or any Indian language. - Reporter of the Year [Publishing]
Prize Money: INR 50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding journalistic text work in any form of publishing (Print & Digital) in English or Hindi. - Reporter of the Year [Broadcast]
Prize Money: INR 50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding journalistic audio and video work in any form of broadcast, including TV, Radio, and Digital, in English or Hindi. - Indian Language Reporter of the Year [Publishing]
Prize Money: INR 50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding journalistic text work in any form of publishing (Print & Digital) in any Indian language, excluding English and Hindi. - Indian Language Reporter of the Year [Broadcast]
Prize Money: INR 50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding journalistic audio and video work in any form of broadcast, including TV, Radio, and Digital, in any Indian language, excluding English and Hindi. - Producer of the Year [Broadcast]
Prize Money: INR 50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding journalistic audio and video production work in any form of broadcasting in any language prevalent in India. Video or Audio entry must be longer than 10 minutes. - Independent Journalist of the Year [Digital]
Prize Money: INR 50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours independent journalists who report on ground or from the field through their own digital platforms. The award recognises original, verifiable reportage in any language spoken in India. Content formats such as vox pops, explainers, panel discussions, studio pieces, opinion videos, or commentaries are not eligible. Only authentic field reporting—documented, reported, and independently produced—will be considered. - PR Person of the Year
Prize Money: INR 50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding work in PR, image building, advocacy, and related areas, showcasing significant competence and achievement. - AD Person of the Year
Prize Money: INR 50,000 (inclusive of taxes)
Description: Honours outstanding work demonstrating competence and achievement in the field of advertising. - PR Agency of the Year
Prize: Trophy and Certificate. No Cash Prize
Description: Honours outstanding work by a PR agency in the fields of PR, image building, advocacy, and related areas, showcasing significant competence and achievement.
Additional rules:- The entry for this category should showcase the top three case studies of the PR agency from 1 January–31 December, 2025. Case studies must be of retainer clients only.
- The entry must cover the client’s brief, planning, activations, it’s impact etc. done for them and any accolade or awards received for it.
- The entry must include three-minute video, uploaded on web and freely accessible, explaining the entry and the claim for the award.
- The entry must include a brief profile of the agency with basic information such as staff strength, key clients.
- The entry must include an undertaking signed by MD/ CEO/ Director/Branch Head or an authorised person of the agency with company seal.
- AD Agency of the Year
Prize: Trophy and Certificate. No Cash Prize
Description: Honours outstanding work by an advertising agency, demonstrating notable competence and achievement in the field.
Additional rules:- The entry for this category should showcase the top three case studies of the PR agency from 1 January–31 December, 2025. Campaigns must be of retainer clients only.
- The entry must cover the client’s brief, planning, activations, it’s impact etc. done for them and any accolade or awards received for it.
- The entry must include three-minute video, uploaded on web and freely accessible, explaining the entry and the claim for the award.
- The entry must include a brief profile of the agency with basic information such as staff strength, key clients.
- The entry must include an undertaking signed by MD/ CEO/ Director/Branch Head or an authorised person of the agency with company seal.
- Digital Agency of the Year
Prize: Trophy and Certificate. No Cash Prize
Description: Honours outstanding work by a digital agency, showcasing significant competence and achievement in the digital landscape.
Additional rules:- The entry for this category should showcase the top three case studies of the PR agency from 1 January–31 December, 2025. Case studies must be of retainer clients only.
- The entry must cover the client’s brief, planning, activations, it’s impact etc. done for them and any accolade or awards received for it.
- The entry must include three-minute video, uploaded on web and freely accessible, explaining the entry and the claim for the award.
- The entry must include a brief profile of the agency with basic information such as staff strength, key clients.
- The entry must include an undertaking signed by MD/ CEO/ Director/Branch Head or an authorised person of the agency with company seal.
- Journalist of the Year
For any queries, please email us at: awards@iimcaa.in
We look forward to your enthusiastic participation in celebrating excellence in the field of mass communication.
Thanks and Regards,
Rohit Dubey
Convenor, IIMCAA Awards 2026
For more information and queries related to IIMCAA Awards, you can get in touch with us by texting us or mail us directly.
Note The Following
- Download the undertaking or declaration form from below. You can find the sample declaration form for proper guidance
- For Proof of Work: If the news is in other language other than Hindi or English, please provide true translation in English or Hindi
Declaration Form Sample
