Future Leader Awards

Year-after-year, industry lists honor executives in prominent roles who are already in the headlines. What about the leaders you haven’t heard about yet? The Future Leader Awards, presented by Digiday, Glossy, Modern Retail and WorkLife, recognize the next generation of leaders, with 10 years experience or less, who are making a big impact in their industry.

Planning to submit this year? To access everything you’ll need to join the ranks of our past winners including our entry kit, expert tips for crafting a winning entry and past coverage of this program, click here.

View the winners

Key Dates

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Categories

Digiday Categories

Worklife Categories

  • HR

    Awarding an individual at a company who is emerging as a leader focused on retaining talent through improving company culture, HR policies, employee wellness and/or spaces in their workplace.

  • Recruiting

    Awarding an individual at a company who is emerging as a leader focused on attracting talent through recruitment, hiring and onboarding processes, and other recruiting initiatives in their workplace.

  • DE&I

    Awarding an individual at a company who is emerging as a leader focused on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workplace.

    Last Winner:
    Albrey Brown

Glossy Categories

  • Fashion

    Awarding an individual at a fashion company who is emerging as a leader in their organization and throughout the industry.

  • Beauty

    Awarding an individual at a beauty company who is emerging as a leader in their organization and throughout the industry.

  • Wellness

    Awarding an individual at a wellness company who is emerging as a leader in their organization and throughout the industry.

Modern Retail Categories

Judges

  • Olivia Landau
    CEO
    THE CLEAR CUT
  • Ari Fox
    SENIOR DIRECTOR, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
    AUDIBLE, GLOBAL CENTER FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT
  • Ketan Desai
    TEA EXPERT & ADVISOR
    BALDMANOFTEA.COM
  • Lauren Sweeney
    FOUNDER & CEO
    DOTTED LINE
  • Maggie Summers
    SVP, HEAD OF PERFORMANCE STRATEGY
    DENTSU INTERNATIONAL
  • Wade Tonkin
    DIRECTOR, GLOBAL AFFILIATE MARKETING
    FANATICS, INC.
  • Edward Arrandale
    VP, REVENUE AND OPERATIONS
    WEATHERBUG
  • Kate Auletta
    EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
    SCARY MOMMY
  • Qianna Smith Bruneteau
    FOUNDER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
    AMERICAN INFLUENCER COUNCIL – AIC
  • Sarah Ailabouni
    SENIOR MANAGER, TECH TRANSFORMATION, ENGAGEMENT & EVENTS - DIGITAL, ANALYTICS AND TECHNOLOGY
    BEST BUY
  • Anais Rodriguez
    CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
    THE 3RD EYE
  • Meghan Hurley
    VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL BRAND MARKETING
    CLAIRE'S
  • Jennifer Kroog Rosenberg
    VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
    THE HONEST COMPANY
  • Edina Sultanik
    GLOBAL DIRECTOR, BRAND COMMUNICATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS
    SPERRY
  • Lauren Kaiser
    SENIOR DIRECTOR, B2B MARKETING
    THE NEW YORK TIMES
  • Caroline Fenner
    COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
    BUZZFEED
  • Benjamin Key
    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HEAD OF PROGRAMMING STRATEGY & OPTIMIZATION
    CONDÉ NAST
  • Vineet Sawant
    DIRECTOR, MOTION GRAPHICS
    HEARST MAGAZINES
  • Lina Renzina
    MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS LEAD, LIFESTYLE AND EDUCATION
    TIKTOK
  • Jeremy Bradley
    SR. CREATIVE DIRECTOR & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
    CBS NEWS STREAMING
  • Aaron Martin
    STRATEGY DIRECTOR
    BETTY

Judging Criteria

Judges will be looking for companies or campaigns that can clearly demonstrate success over the past 12 months. Judges are seeking companies or campaigns that have seized challenges and created opportunities and will evaluate entries based on the following criteria: Innovation, Creativity, Consumer Value, Results and Overall.

Judges will require evidence to substantiate all entries. This can include details of financial performance, specific KPIs, creative evidence in the form of a sizzle reel, campaign images, or links to the final project or related sites. The judges will also consider the structure, presentation and clarity of each entry.

Judging Process

Judges will score each entry prompt and consider any supporting materials submitted. After each judge submits their score for the above criteria, the scores of each criteria will then be averaged and then combined to determine an overall score for each entry. The highest scoring entries will appear on the shortlist and winner lists.

Confidentiality

All material will remain confidential to the judges. Only the 'Credits' section of an entry will be made public via the shortlist/winners announcement. If you win a particular category, our team may summarize the entry for shortlist/winner announcements and winners guides.