The Social Media Marketing Awards 2026 are open for entries, they are free to enter, and the ceremony takes place on a boat on the Thames on the afternoon of 8 October 2026. They recognise the best social media work across the UK and Europe, from agencies and in-house teams to brands, freelancers, charities and individual creators. The short version: entry is free, judging is blind, and entries close on 11 July 2026.
The detail people remember is true. At 6:45pm, Tower Bridge lifts and the boat sails through it. Not past it. Through it.
When and where are the Social Media Marketing Awards 2026?
The ceremony runs on the afternoon of 8 October 2026 on a chartered boat, boarding at Butlers Wharf at 2pm and docking on the north bank at 7pm. There is no hotel ballroom and no long dinner running into speeches you can''t hear from the back of the room. You board with a welcome drink, sail down the river, eat a seated meal on board, find out who won inside an hour, then celebrate on deck through the afternoon before the boat sails through Tower Bridge and docks at 7pm. Home at a reasonable hour, with no late trains and no surge-priced taxi.
The awards first ran in 2018, took a break, and came back in 2025 on a boat on the Thames. The format is now the point: 200 of the best social media professionals in the UK and Europe on board, a fast ceremony, an open bar, and a bridge that opens on cue.
Why enter the Social Media Marketing Awards
Entry is free. Submitting an entry costs nothing, because the best work should be judged on its merits rather than on which teams can afford the highest entry fees. That matters most for the people who usually get priced out: charities, freelancers, small businesses and in-house teams stretching a budget further than anyone expects. To be clear, entry is free but tickets to the ceremony are separate and will be announced closer to the event.
Judging is blind. A panel of senior marketing professionals assesses entries on strategy, creativity, execution and results, with no fee tier buying a better hearing.
There are no acceptance speeches either. Instead of a winner thanking their team into a microphone nobody can hear over the boat, every winner gets a full spotlight feature on The Sauce, published the week after. It is a permanent piece of coverage that reaches far more people than were ever on the boat, which for most winners is the part that actually moves their career or their pipeline.
Social Media Marketing Awards 2026 categories
There are 23 juried categories across five areas, plus five community-voted Industry Choice Awards. The juried list is built so that every corner of the industry has a category that genuinely fits, rather than a catch-all that flattens an NHS trust''s work against a brand with ten times the budget.
Agency & Team Excellence
- Social Media Agency of the Year
- Boutique or Independent Agency of the Year
- In-House Team of the Year
- B2B Social Strategy of the Year
Brand & Campaign Excellence
- Social-First Brand of the Year
- Short-Form Video Campaign
- Influencer Marketing Campaign
- Paid Social Campaign
- Organic or Community-Led Campaign
- Social Commerce Campaign
- Charity or Non-Profit Campaign
- Purpose-Led or Social Impact Campaign
Audience & Platform Excellence
- Best Use of a Single Platform
- Long-Form Social Content Strategy
- Employee Advocacy or Social Selling Programme
- Small Business Social Media
Innovation & The Future of Social
- AI-Powered Social Strategy
- Best Use of Data, Analytics and Measurement
- Bold Creative Format
Individual Impact
- Social Media Marketer of the Year
- Rising Star
- Freelance Professional of the Year
- Industry Educator or Advocate
- Creator Economy or Personal Brand of the Year
A few of these are worth calling out. The Charity or Non-Profit Campaign award is judged separately from the brand categories and assessed against what was achievable, not against what a commercial budget could have done. AI-Powered Social Strategy is explicitly not for teams that bolted an AI tool onto their stack and called it innovation. Judges want real application over hype. Best Use of Data, Analytics and Measurement is aimed at teams doing something genuinely sophisticated as third-party tools disappear and attribution gets harder, not teams reporting vanity metrics.
If you work in social, there is a category for you, whether you run a three-person agency, a global in-house team, a freelance practice or a charity comms function of one.
The Industry Choice Awards: voted for, not judged
Alongside the juried categories sits a second strand that is not judged at all. It is voted for. The Industry Choice Awards exist to find out which tools and platforms the industry actually rates, rather than which ones have the biggest marketing budget.
There are five categories: Social Media Management Platform of the Year, Content Creation Tool of the Year, AI Tool of the Year, Video Tool of the Year, and Social Media Listening and Data Tool of the Year.
Anyone can nominate the tools they rely on, with no fee and no lengthy form. The most-nominated tools become the shortlist in each category. The shortlist then goes back out to the community to vote, one vote per person per category, with results announced live on the boat. You do not need a ticket to nominate or vote, though you will probably want to be in the room when the names are read out.
For the tool and tech companies themselves, the logic is simple: if your platform is shortlisted, 200 of the most influential social media marketers in the UK and Europe hear your name called out on the Thames.
How to enter the Social Media Marketing Awards 2026
Entry is free and open now. Submit your work at socialmediamarketingawards.co.uk before 11 July 2026. Pick the category that fits your work, complete the entry, and that is it. You can enter more than one category if your work spans several.
The entry process is structured for two reasons: so judges have what they need, and because the aggregated, anonymised data becomes a genuine benchmark for the industry. Beyond the chance to win, every entrant gets benchmarking against their peers, a rigorous read from senior judges, and a shot at media coverage.
Key dates for the Social Media Marketing Awards 2026
- Entries open: 12 April 2026
- Entry deadline: 11 July 2026
- Shortlist announced: July 2026
- Judging: August to September 2026
- Awards ceremony: 8 October 2026, Butlers Wharf to Tower Bridge, London
Frequently asked questions
Are the Social Media Marketing Awards free to enter?
Yes. Submitting an entry is completely free. Tickets to attend the ceremony on the Thames are separate and will be announced closer to the event.
When is the entry deadline for 2026?
Entries close on 11 July 2026. The shortlist is announced in July, judging runs from August to September, and the ceremony is on 8 October 2026.
When and where is the awards ceremony?
The afternoon of 8 October 2026, on a boat that boards at Butlers Wharf at 2pm and sails through Tower Bridge before docking on the north bank at 7pm.
Who can enter the Social Media Marketing Awards?
Agencies, in-house teams, brands, freelancers, charities, creators and individuals working in social media across the UK and Europe. There are 23 categories built to fit organisations of every size.
How are entries judged?
Judging is blind. A panel of senior marketing professionals assesses each entry on strategy, creativity, execution and results, with no advantage bought by entry fees.
What is the difference between the main awards and the Industry Choice Awards?
The 23 main categories are judged by a panel. The five Industry Choice Awards are not judged at all. The community nominates and votes for its favourite tools and platforms, and results are announced live on the night.
Do I need a ticket to enter or vote?
No. Entry to the awards is free, and you can nominate or vote in the Industry Choice Awards without a ticket. A ticket is only needed to attend the ceremony itself.
Entries close 11 July 2026. If you have done work this year that deserved more than a mention in a round-up, this is the room for it. Enter free at socialmediamarketingawards.co.uk.
The Social Media Marketing Awards are produced by SocialDay.