The AARON Awards, dedicated to AI creativity in advertising, has officially opened submissions for its 2027 edition, with an expanded category structure following a successful inaugural year that attracted submissions from 45 countries and free entries until January 15.

This year, the AARON Awards returns with a sharper focus on how artificial intelligence is being used to create commercial campaigns for brands. While speculative advertising dominated the first edition, with Best AI Spec Ad for Brand receiving the highest number of entries, the organisers expect a significant shift in 2027.

“Last year, spec advertising was our biggest category, and for good reason. It gave artists the freedom to experiment, develop their craft and demonstrate what was possible without waiting for a client brief,” statedVinne Schifferstein Vidal, co-founder of the AARON Awards. “But the market has moved considerably since then. We’re seeing more AI work commissioned by major brands, more sophisticated production workflows and a growing number of creative professionals making AI a central part of commercial production. We expect that shift to be reflected in this year’s entries.”

To accommodate the growing volume and diversity of commercial work, the 2027 awards will introduce new industry-specific categories recognising AI creativity across sectors such as automotive, fashion, beauty, retail, technology and other major advertising industries. These will sit alongside the existing craft-driven and technical categories, recognising disciplines including Hybrid production, Real-time experiences, Workflows, Key frames and more. The Spec Ad category will also return, continuing to recognise independent experimentation and self-initiated creative work.

“We’re hoping to see even greater creative ambition this year. As generative AI becomes part of everyday creative workflows, there’s more room to take risks, explore unexpected ideas and push the craft further,”stated Marie-Céline Merret Wirström, co-founder and curator of the AARON Awards.“Our expanded categories give that ambition more space, recognising different disciplines and the particular creative challenges of each industry. We’re excited to see work that surprises us and takes brand storytelling somewhere new.”

PJ Pereira, the co-founder of Silverside AI and the jury president of the AARON Awards, commented, “There’s a massive difference between simply making something and making something great. What excites me about the AARON Awards is that they celebrate real makers who are committed to raising the standards of AI in advertising. These are creatives who aren’t sitting on the sidelines waiting for the technology to catch up to their ambitions. But they also refuse to applaud something just because it was made with AI. They’re using the technology to push the craft forward, and that’s exactly the kind of work we should be celebrating.”

The 2027 edition will also welcome several prominent new members to its international jury, including PJ Pereira (Silverside AI), Theresa Ong (Meta), Charlotte Glennon (Colenso), Vix Jagger (Droga5), Kavan Cardoza (Phantom X) also last year’s AARON Laureate winner, Maria Devereux (Accenture Song) and Caio Del Manto (Euphoria Creative).

Returning judges include Arlyn Panopio (Envato), Wesley ter Haar (Monks), Hugo Barbera (HumAIn), Simon Meyer (Promptr), Chrissie Cremers (AIgency AMS) and Craig Elimeliah (Code and Theory), Gabe Michael (Elevenlabs) and Rogier Vijverberg (Superheroes) bringing together leading expertise across creative direction, advertising, AI filmmaking and emerging production technologies.

The jury will evaluate entries on creative excellence, originality, craft and the meaningful application of AI, with commercial categories also considering strategic relevance and results.

Returning partners for the Awards program are Envato and Lighthouse AI Academy.

To encourage participation from independent artists, emerging studios and creative teams around the world, submissions will be free received before January 15 2027. Entries will remain open until February 28 2027, with the winners announced during the global AARON Awards show in mid-April 2027. The awards welcome submissions from independent AI artists, creative studios, production companies, agencies and in-house brand teams worldwide.

Submissions are open now at www.aaronawards.com.