Creative Economy Agency

The Creative Economy Agency (Public Organization) or CEA, under the supervision of the Office of the Prime Minister of Thailand, is dedicated to advancing the country’s creative economy. The agency recognizes the importance of applying creativity as a key driver of development across all dimensions — individuals, businesses, communities, and organizations. Creativity is not only a tool for designing and developing products, services, activities, or projects; it is a fundamental mechanism for value creation and positive impact across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. This approach contributes to economic growth while enhancing quality of life in a sustainable manner.

Building on this vision, CEA presents Creative Excellence Awards 2026 to recognize and honor individuals and organizations with outstanding creative achievements. The awards also aim to support the real-world application and scalability of creative works, while inspiring stakeholders across sectors to actively contribute to the development of the creative economy. The awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in August 2026.

A Platform for Creative Excellence

Creative Excellence Awards was first launched in 2023 and returns in 2026 for its 4th consecutive edition. The platform is designed to provide space for visionary individuals and organizations across Thailand and beyond to showcase their creative potential and share forward-thinking perspectives. Works presented through this platform play a vital role in driving creative innovation into real-world impact — enhancing quality of life and addressing current economic and societal challenges.

Driving the Creative Economy Ecosystem

More than a recognition platform, the awards serve as a key mechanism in strengthening the creative economy ecosystem, fostering continuous growth and long-term sustainability. The initiative also contributes to positioning Thailand as a regional hub for creativity in ASEAN.

Scope and Coverage

Creative Excellence Awards 2026 recognizes works across a wide range of creative industries, including crafts, music, performing arts, visual arts, film, broadcasting, publishing, software, advertising, design, fashion, and more. With a vision to expand to the international stage, the awards aim to reflect the potential of creators while encouraging the development of new ideas. At the same time, the platform seeks to build international recognition through a systematic, transparent, and standardized selection process, elevating Thai creative works onto the global stage in a tangible and impactful way.

3 Award Categories of Creative Excellence Awards 2026

Creative Excellence Awards 2026 presents awards across 3 main categories, covering 15 fields, with a total of 15 awards, as follows:

1. Creative City Awards – 5 Awards
2. Creative Business Awards – 5 Awards
3. Creative Social Impact Awards – 5 Awards

These three categories reflect the role of creativity in driving development across multiple dimensions — city, business, and society — from enhancing local potential and creating economic value to generating positive social and environmental impact.

Category 1: Creative City Awards
5 Awards

The Creative City Awards recognize initiatives that focus on the development, revitalization, and transformation of areas by integrating cultural assets and local identity — such as traditions, culture, food, and architecture — with creative thinking and innovation. These efforts aim to generate economic value, stimulate employment, and sustainably improve the quality of life within communities.

1.1 Creative City Festival Award
Recognizing creative events or festivals that apply cultural, artistic, and local assets to create new experiences and generate positive impact at the district, community, or area level. 
1.2 Creative City Branding Award
Recognizing cities or areas that successfully develop a distinctive identity and clear positioning, leading to strong recognition and public awareness.
1.3 Creative City Policy Award
Recognizing public policies or measures that are creatively designed to drive the creative economy at the city or regional level — demonstrating practical implementation, cross-sector collaboration, and tangible outcomes across economic, social, or urban development dimensions, while effectively leveraging cultural assets and local identity.
1.4 Creative City Regeneration Award
Recognizing projects or initiatives that excel in revitalizing, improving, and transforming spaces into vibrant environments — creating new atmospheres and advancing them into creative economy districts.
1.5 Creative City Collaboration Award
Recognizing collaborations among public, private, community, and creative sectors in developing cities or areas through creativity — demonstrating the integration of multi-sector strengths to create new value, drive creative economic activities, and deliver tangible local impact.

Category 2: Creative Business Awards
5 Awards

The Creative Business Awards recognize businesses driven by creativity across all dimensions — from design and production processes to business model development. The category emphasizes sustainability, environmental responsibility, and the ability to generate added value through products, services, or projects with strong global competitiveness. 

2.1 Creative IP Award 
Recognizing works that systematically develop Intellectual Property (IP) into economic value, with strong potential for expansion across platforms, industries, or new contexts.
2.2 Creative Transformation Award
Recognizing businesses that successfully adapt and elevate their capabilities through creativity — resulting in distinctive, competitive products or services that generate wide-reaching positive impact.
2.3 Creative Data Award
Recognizing businesses or projects that use data as a core driver in developing ideas, designing experiences, or creating new solutions. By integrating data analytics with creativity, these works generate business, social, or cultural value, leading to differentiated and scalable outcomes.
2.4 Creative Campaign Award
Recognizing marketing-driven campaigns that leverage creativity in communication and business growth — through the integration of strategy, content, and consumer insight to deliver measurable awareness, engagement, and impact.
2.5 Creative Commerce Award
Recognizing works that apply creativity and innovation to design compelling commerce experiences, effectively connecting brands and consumers across all touchpoints. These works are customer-centric and drive purchasing decisions while fostering long-term relationships.

Category 3: Creative Social Impact Awards
5 Awards

The Creative Social Impact Awards recognize works that apply creativity as a powerful tool to address social challenges effectively — creating sustainable and tangible positive impact at the community, regional, or national level.

3.1 Creative Inclusivity Award
Recognizing individuals, organizations, or institutions that use creativity to promote inclusivity — ensuring equitable access to resources and services while fostering stronger social cohesion.
3.2 Creative Well-Being Award
Recognizing products, services, activities, or projects that promote holistic well-being across physical, mental, and social dimensions — enhancing quality of life and overall well-being.
3.3 Creative Equality Award
Recognizing works or initiatives that promote equality and reduce social disparities — ensuring fair access to rights and opportunities across diverse dimensions, including gender, age, socio-economic background, physical condition, and access to information.
3.4 Creative Education Award
Recognizing products, services, or projects that apply creativity to enhance learning, develop skills, and elevate educational standards — while expanding access to knowledge for all.
3.5 Creative Green Award
Recognizing works that drive environmental sustainability through creative concepts and processes that minimize impact on the planet — such as carbon reduction, efficient resource management, eco-design, and zero-waste approaches throughout the entire lifecycle.

Open Call: Creative Excellence Awards 2026
Now open for submissions. Submit your work to compete for 15 awards across 3 major categories.
Application Period: Now - 15 June 2026

Eligibility Criteria for Submissions

Submissions must meet the following criteria:

• The work must be created in Thailand or internationally.
• The work must demonstrate creativity and the ability to generate value creation, while delivering a positive impact on the economy, society, or environment.
• The work must comply with applicable laws and ethical standards.
• The work must be original, not infringe upon any copyrights, and must be able to clearly demonstrate its origin and development process in a transparent and verifiable manner.
• The work must not have previously received a Creative Excellence Awards award during 2023 - 2025.
• The work must have been created between 2024 - 2026, or be an ongoing project with clear and tangible development and progress.
• Each award will have one winner only.

Submission Process

Applicants are required to review all project details and eligibility criteria before submitting their entries via the online application form.

Apply here: https://forms.gle/8xPedWaST1iLY2bD6

Application Period: Now - 15 June 2026 

Required Materials and Information

Category 1: Creative City Awards
1. Applicant/organization information
2. Target area related to the work, activity, or project
3. Objectives and design concept
4. Key strengths of the work and its positive impact on the economy, society, and sustainability
5. Relevant supporting documents

Category 2: Creative Business Awards
1. Applicant/organization information
2. Format or type of the work, activity, or project
3. Objectives and design concept
4. Key strengths of the work and its business value creation or positive social impact
5. Relevant supporting documents

Category 3: Creative Social Impact Awards
1. Applicant/organization information
2. Objectives and design concept
3. Tangible outcomes in terms of well-being or quality of life improvement
4. Key strengths in creating positive change for communities or society
5. Relevant supporting documents

Contact Information
For further inquiries:
Tel: 098-972-7933 (Khun Thames), 086-336-0731 (Khun Boat)
Email: ceawards.cea@gmail.com

Benefits for Award Winners 

• Opportunity to showcase works at Thailand’s leading design festivals:
  Bangkok Design Week
  Chiang Mai Design Week
  Isan Creative Festival
  Pakk Taii Design Week
• Opportunities to expand onto international platforms through participation in global award programs, as well as joining CEA’s Thailand Creative House
• Opportunities to expand networks and business potential through Business Matching activities

Selection Process

Following the submission period, all entries will undergo a qualification screening process. Eligible entries will then be forwarded to the judging panel of each award for further evaluation.

The selection process consists of two stages

1. e-Voting
The judging panel will evaluate qualified entries via an online system, scoring from 0 - 10 based on two main criteria: Creativity and Impact. The top 5 entries with the highest average scores in each award will advance to the Presentation round.

2. Presentation 
Finalists (top 5 in each award) will be invited to present their work directly to the judging panel, either onsite or online. During this stage, judges will conduct in-depth discussions and Q&A sessions to assess the vision, development process, and overall impact of each work.

Following the presentations, the judging panel will convene to select one winner per award, based on both the quality of the work and the effectiveness of the presentation.

Schedule

Note: The schedule is subject to change as appropriate.