Content Creator Awards Checklist
Content Creator Awards 2026
Finalist Checklist
You're through to the finals. Everything you need is on this page — what to submit, when, and how to make the most of it between now and October.
Finalists were chosen on the strength of the comments submitted about them and the impact of their content. Somebody put your name forward, and the work stood up.
There are two separate submissions ahead of you, with two different deadlines: your finalist video, due 15 September, and the material for your complimentary DWC Conversations cover, due 31 December. Both are covered below, along with what to do the moment you finish reading — share it.
Diary
Key Dates
Two of these need something from you. Put both in your calendar now.
- Finalists published Your name and links go live on the finalists page 2 September
- Video submission closes Required for judging — no video, no entry in the final round 15 September
- Winners announced Published across DWC Magazine and our channels 15 October
- Times Square billboard Winners only — have your front-facing photo ready November
- Conversations cover material due All nominees — photographs, articles and bio 31 December
Your finalist listing goes live on 2 September. Find yourself on the finalists page, check your name and links are correct, and tell us straight away if anything needs fixing.
What We Need · Due 15 September
Your Finalist Video
One vertical video, Reels format, between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. This is the next stage of judging and it's how the panel hears from you directly.
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Filmed vertically Required9:16, the same as a Reel or a Story. Horizontal footage can't be used.
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Between 30 seconds and 2 minutes RequiredAnything shorter than 30 seconds gives the panel too little to judge. Anything over 2 minutes will not be watched to the end.
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Answer one of the three prompts belowOne only. Pick whichever you can answer most honestly — there's no advantage to any option.
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Say your name and your category at the startIt helps the panel match your video to your entry.
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Speak to camera, face visibleThe judges are assessing you, not a voiceover over stock footage.
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Send the highest quality file you haveMP4 or MOV. Winning videos may be reshared on our channels, so resolution matters.
Choose One Prompt
Take us behind the scenes. How do you prepare for your content?
Show the part nobody sees: the planning, the notes, the setup, the run of a normal working session.
Why do you make the content you make?
What started it, what keeps it going, and why this subject rather than any other.
What do you want your audience to walk away with?
The change you're hoping to make in the person watching, reading or listening — and a moment you know it landed.
Keep it simple. The panel is judging your answer, not your production. Phone footage, natural light, one take — that's enough. Say the true thing rather than the polished thing.
- Under 30 seconds, or running past the 2 minute limit
- Filmed horizontally, then cropped
- Answering all three prompts and covering none of them properly
- A sales pitch for your business rather than an answer about your work
- Reading a script word for word with no eye contact
- Sound recorded somewhere noisy — audio is the one thing worth a second take
- Submitted after 15 September
What We Need · Due 31 December
Your Complimentary Conversations Cover
Every nominee was given one DWC Conversations cover. It's yours whether or not you win. Here's what we need to produce it.
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Three front-facing photographs RequiredHighest resolution you have, portrait orientation where possible — the cover trims to 7×10in, so a tall frame gives us the most to work with. Face to camera, uncluttered background.
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One promotional articleThis one can sell. Name your business, your offer and your link. Around 800–1,200 words. Lead with the reader's problem rather than your credentials, and close with one clear next step.
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One non-promotional articleNo pitch, no link, no offer. Teach something you know from experience — around 800–1,200 words. This is the piece that builds authority, and it's usually the one readers remember.
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A short bio, 60–100 wordsThird person. Who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and where to find you.
Writing the Two Articles
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Open on the reader, not on yourselfThe first two sentences decide whether the rest gets read. Start where the reader already is.
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One idea per articleA piece that covers three things well covers nothing memorably.
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Use your own examplesSpecifics from your own work carry the piece. Generic advice reads as filler.
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Write it in your voiceThe way you'd explain it to one person you like. Formality is not the same as authority.
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Finish with a clear endingThe promotional piece ends with a next step. The non-promotional piece ends with a thought worth keeping.
- Photographs too small to print, or taken side-on
- A promotional article dressed as a non-promotional one
- Copy lifted straight from your website's About page
- Articles well under or well over the word range
- No bio, or a bio written in the first person
For Winners · November
Times Square
Winners appear together on a group billboard in New York's Times Square in November.
Winners are announced on 15 October and the billboard runs the following month, so the turnaround is short. Have a high-resolution, front-facing photograph ready before the announcement — the same standard as your cover photographs. If you win, we'll ask for it immediately.
Prepare it now, not in October. The one thing that holds up a billboard placement is a photograph that isn't large enough to print at scale.
From the Awards Advisory
Congratulations
Earlier this year, we opened our 2026 DWC Content Creator Awards, and you did not disappoint; we now have 200 finalists spread across eight categories, and if you are reading this, then congratulations to you.
In keeping with the ethos of the magazine, we wanted to celebrate women, and reward them for all their hard work — sadly, all too often the recognition of all their efforts are lacking, but today we see them — we see you, and today we want to show you off to the World.
Perhaps your inclusion came as a surprise to you, but somebody out there saw what we all needed to see, and put your name forward. And we saw you.
Congratulations once again, and we raise a glass to you all.
Thank you
Congratulations, finalist.
You have been chosen not because you followed a formula, but because you created something that moved people, something that carried your voice into the world, whether that was through a podcast episode recorded at midnight, a newsletter that went out even on the hard weeks, a video you almost did not post, or a community you built one conversation at a time. That is the work of consistency, of showing up when nobody was watching, of trusting your own creative instinct even when the algorithm gave you no promises in return.
This is the achievement. This is the recognition that your trust, your honesty, and your willingness to keep creating have already changed something for the women who read, listen, and watch.
Ready to send your files across?
By 15 September: your vertical finalist video, with your name and category in the email.
By 31 December: your three photographs, both articles and your bio, in one email with everything attached.
Send both to hello@dwcmagazine.com. We'll confirm receipt.
Send Your Video See the Finalists